A Hawk A Mockingbird and A Sparrow
by amyownfie
Summary: Skye had only been a SHIELD agent for a few years but she knew more about operations than most, barring Maria and Nick. Admittedly that was only because her adoptive brother (though neither of them had been adopted) was very high up in SHIELD, so back when Director Fury found out he had been training her in self defense for years, he jumped at the chance to recruit her.
1. Chapter 1

Skye had only been a SHIELD agent for a few years but she knew more about operations than most, barring Maria and Nick. Admittedly that was only because her adoptive brother (though neither of them had been adopted) was very high up in SHIELD, so back when Director Fury found out he had been training her in self defense for years, he jumped at the chance to recruit her.

Skye had just turned fourteen, the day that she was once again sent back to the orphanage. It didn't surprise her though, she'd been sent back on Christmas Day before. But this time things were different. An older boy (who couldn't have been young enough to be in the orphanage) was sat in her usual chair with another boy on his knee. He looked familiar but Skye didn't recognize him until he spotted her and shouted "Still here Marion?"

Skye immediately grinned, skipping over to her honorary brother. "I enjoyed not being called that." She mock frowned, punching his shoulder. "Robin Hood was always my favourite."

"And yet I'm the one who can fire a bow." Clint smiled, his gaze dropping to his little brother. "Thank you for looking after Theo." He spoke, his voice suddenly serious.

"I made a promise." Skye smiled, ruffling the younger boy's hair. "Besides he loves me."

"Will you stop doing that?" Theo whined. He was only nine but he, like most kids in their orphanage, had matured beyond his age.

Skye had been a baby when she was dropped off at the orphanage, but Clint and Theo had known their parents. Clint was fifteen when his parents' car collided with a drunk driver's, but Theo was only four and didn't understand why he couldn't see his parents anymore. For their initial few days, Skye had been with a foster family but when she came back she helped ease Theo into life at St Agness'. And when Clint turned eighteen, he asked Skye to look after Theo until he could come back for him.

"I didn't expect to be gone for this long but I'm finally allowed to take him with me." Clint smiled before noticing Skye's frown.

She had been envious of every child that got to leave, and she couldn't help feeling jealous of Clint and Theo. They had been addressed in their parents' will. They had a house and a car, things normal families had. But Skye had none of that, and had to watch as her brothers went back to that life.

"I'll get you out of here too." Clint reassured. "I'm not leaving you behind again, even if the nuns are here."

Skye faked a smile. "We know that won't happen. I'm never allowed to stay anywhere."

"Yeah? Well I'm not going to take no for an answer." Clint smiled, placing Theo on the ground so that he could stand up to grab Theo's things. "Let's go Marion."

"What?" Skye asked, unsure as to why he was suddenly inviting her to go with him. She had just been sent back and there was no way the nuns would even let her out for a few hours after the motorbike incident the month before.

"I'm taking you with me." Clint stated, grabbing their hands and leading them to Sister McKenna's office.

True to his word Clint had taken both Skye and Theo from the orphanage. Though he was her guardian, their relationship was like it always had been, brother and sister.

They had a nice system. Clint's friend Maria would look after them when Clint couldn't be at home, and Skye would walk Theo to and from school. After a few weeks of trying, and failing, to explain to her teachers that she had to walk with her little brother, Maria stepped in. She had shown the principal something similar to a black wallet and the issue was never brought up again.

But Skye frequently got detentions and usually she could talk her way out of them. There was only one exception to that rule, and it had occurred a few weeks before Christmas. Maria had told Skye the day before that she would pick Theo up from school but when she burst into Skye's detention and removed her from the school, permanently, Skye began to worry. At the time Skye didn't know what was going on but she later found out that someone had threatened herself and her younger brother. Clint had gone after Theo while Maria had gone to protect Skye, but he had been too late. He got to the school just in time to see four heavily armed men carrying Theo's body into a blacked out SUV. Skye hadn't been told any details but she could guess what had happened, because a week later they held a funeral for Theo.

After that, Clint started teaching Skye what he claimed he had learnt while training for the CIA, paid for as many classes in MMA and gymnastics as he could for her, so she wouldn't be hurt like Theo had been. They had sold the Barton family home and moved into an apartment in DC that Clint was allotted from work, Maria permanently moving in also. Skye suspected this was so that she could continue to train while her brother was gone but she didn't want to give her brother that much credit. All of the lessons and intense training paid off. On three separate occasions, Skye had single handedly fought off a group of men who had come after her, usually with guns and syringes.

But one day, when Skye was twenty, a group had come after her carrying no guns and no syringes. This time she couldn't fight them off as easily, because this time she was fighting two women who seemed to have been trained in a near identical way as she had. But they didn't want to kill her or kidnap her, they wanted to recruit her. And when Maria had pulled up in a car next to them and explained who they were, Skye immediately said yes.

She spent six weeks training with Maria before she was given her own SHIELD badge and handed her first solo mission, as she had done many with various teams and specialists while training. This mission, however, just so happened to specifically detail breaking Clint and his partner out of a Russian containment facility.

"You remember Agent Morse?" Maria asked, walking into the locker room with a tall blonde woman flanking her. "She and Agent Hartley were the ones who tried to bring you in."

"Yeah I do." Skye nodded, zipping up her combat suit. "You fight well." Skye nodded to Bobbi, her thoughts going to the bruise she still had on her back.

"You're not too shabby yourself from what I remember." Bobbi smiled back. "I'm Bobbi, your partner for this mission. While you'll be going in on your own, I'm your backup and your extraction." She informed Skye seriously. "I'll also be your pilot for this evening."

Skye laughed slightly, strapping weapons to her thighs and back, her favourite being the bow that Clint had gotten her a few months into his training sessions.

"Am I the only one who can see the irony?" Bobbi joked, thinking it funny that the bow wielding fighter was going to rescue another bow wielding fighter.

"He did foster me." Skye shrugged, closing her locker. "He's practically my brother, that's how I got the bow."

Bobbi just nodded, following Skye on her way to the hangar. Bobbi took over starting the plane while Skye loaded some crates of supplies. "What's the plan?" She asked, starting the flight sequence.

"I'm going to parachute in, take out anyone in my way and figure out the rest when I find Clint." Skye shrugged, pulling out a tablet and taking the co-pilot's seat.

"Do you know where in the facility they're being held?"

"Nope."

"Do you know anything about the compound?"

"Nope."

"Do you even know what his partner looks like?"

"Yeah, we cook dinner together when Clint is injured." Skye shrugged.

Bobbi just looked at Skye, amazed that she had clearance for this mission without even a ghost of a plan. "How did you land this mission? Most first missions are a lot easier, and usually involve more people." Bobbi asked, trying to be as discrete as she could to get the answer to her real question.

"I got this mission because of my previous history with this group." Skye answered, having caught on to Bobbi's real intentions. "They threatened my younger brother and me when I was fifteen. They kidnapped, experimented on and eventually killed him and if Clint hadn't taught me how to fight they would have done the same to me. Even though it's personal, it means that I know what they're capable of and I know their weaknesses."

Bobbi wasn't happy with Skye's answer, knowing it wasn't the whole truth. "I understand that, going after someone for personal reasons. But are you sure you can keep those reasons to themselves and get the job done?"

"We'll soon find out." Skye smiled, moving from her seat to the back of the quintet.

For the next hour of their trip, Skye arranged the supplies, attaching parachutes to some small boxes.

"So you do have a plan." Bobbi smiled, when she turned to see what Skye was doing.

"I have part of a plan." Skye corrected. "Maybe twelve percent."

"That's barely a plan." Bobbi sighed, having hoped that she was wrong about Skye. 'She can't just run in and hope things will turn out okay, that's how agents get killed.' Bobbi had warned Fury about Skye during an observation near the beginning of her training. Bobbi had heard about many of Fury's missions with Agents May and Coulson, about how they always had to improvise a new plan. But not everyone could be Strike Team Delta, not everyone could become a SHIELD legend, not everyone had it in them. And right at that moment, Bobbi wasn't sure if Skye had it in her.

"Here's my plan for getting in." Skye announced, sitting once again in the co-pilot's seat. Bobbi shook herself from her thoughts, interested in what Skye had thought up. "A three minute detour from our current path is another, larger compound, where they house their less volatile experiments. I've made some little packages that we can drop over their base as a diversion, while we head to get my brother. They're rigged to take longer or quicker to fall and should hopefully buy me some much needed time to get around the other base without detection.

"When we reach the drop zone, a small clearing in the surrounding forest, you're going to fly as close to the ground as you can and I'm going to jump out. You need to keep flying because you're going to head back to the distraction and make even more chaos. There will be some packages tied down that you will need to throw out of the back, but you should try to drag it out as long as you can. That will hopefully be happening while I'm on my way to the holding cells. When I reach them I'll try to radio you to come get us but if I can't, wait half an hour from the initial drop and come back, landing in the same clearing you will have dropped me off in. Wait an hour and if I haven't made contact, head back to the hub and fill them in. I'll try to send up a flare or something if I'm cutting it close. I know this is a little outside of the usual job description for 'backup' but it will be the most effective way to get to our people." Skye finished, handing over the tablet with extra information.

Bobbi had to hide her smile when she noticed Skye researched the building layout while she was setting up the distraction. Her urge to smile failed when she realized something. "Won't this put them on high alert? You'll end up dead the second you approach, they'll be expecting you."

"They won't be expecting me." Skye dismissed. "They'll be expecting you."

That was when it dawned on her. "They'll be evacuating in case the 'attack' is directed at them. You're hoping that they care enough about Barton and Romanoff that they'll move them too."

"It's inelegant and a hell of a lot riskier but it will be the easiest way to get to our people, as long as they're moving." Skye clarified, smiling. "And if I know my brother he'll try to take the opportunity to get out, while Natasha will actually do it."

Bobbi smiled. She had more than twelve percent of a plan, and it was a good one. "We'll be over the first compound in the next few minutes, get ready."

Skye nodded and immediately moved to tie down the last of the packages before moving the loose ones to the far end of the cargo ramp. Once she had finished, the ramp lowered and Skye began pushing the packages out of the back, moving as quickly as she could, while hoping that she had correctly harnessed herself to one of the hooks on the floor. She didn't want to fall out of the plane just yet.

"Can you hear me?" Skye asked, turning on her coms unit.

"Loud and clear." Bobbi responded through hers. "You'd better be ready because this if going to hurt."

Skye released her harness, keeping a tight grip on it while the plane descended. Skye waited for Bobbi's signal before letting go of the cable and rolling out onto the frozen ground.

"Good luck Agent Barton." Bobbi smiled, heading back round to the second facility to continue the distraction.

"You too Morse." Skye pulled up her hood and a scarf up to her nose, exposing only her eyes, though they were hard to see with the low set hood. Skye quickly gained her bearings and smiled, Bobbi had dropped her right in one of their blind spots. But it wouldn't last for long. Skye moved as quickly and silently as she could, following the path she had drawn out during the flight. Within a few seconds she was at the building's exterior, being as careful as she could to not touch the wall, as the heat sensors would give away her location.

True to her plan, people were moving in and out of the building, frantically trying to move equipment and files to vehicles all around the building. Skye pulled out one of her exploding arrows and aimed it at the van furthest from her. With a deep breath, Skye loosed the arrow and the people around her started to panic, so much so that the two guards on the door between Skye and the explosion moved to find out what had happened, yelling at the scientists who were gawking.

"Morse, I'm inside." Skye informed Bobbi once she was relatively alone in the corridors. It wouldn't last for long as more scientists would be moving through within the next ten seconds. Her com unit crackled for a few seconds before going dead as Skye moved into an abandoned, empty lab. "Great." Skye muttered, hoping that none of the people bustling through the corridor would realize that she was there. She eyed a computer that was still on and pulled out the flash drive Fury had given her. 'Just plug it in and leave it until the light turns green. Shouldn't be more than thirty seconds.'

Skye did as she had been instructed and began to count, waiting for the footsteps outside to die down. Ten seconds quickly became thirty, which in turn became forty. She'd been in the room too long; security would know something was wrong. At least two guards would be there in three, two…

Heavy boots stepped unto the room, slow, measured and sloppy. "Four." Skye counted, listening for where they were standing. "There's a compliment in there somewhere." Skye muttered before pulling out the hand guns strapped to her thighs, much easier in close combat like this. It was almost like Maria was talking to her as she prepared to strike. Skye stood and quickly fired rounds, each piercing the chest of its intended target.

The flash drive beeped loudly. "Are you trying to get me caught?" Skye mumbled as she took the now readied memory stick and placed it securely in her belt.

"Now to find my brother."

After forty minutes of walking and hiding, Skye managed to find the two agents she was sent for fighting off some very large men while their hands were bound, and succeeding. Skye rolled her eyes and shot the last of the guards and holstered her weapons. She pulled the bow and quiver off of her back and walked toward the now suspicious pair.

"I'm with SHIELD." Skye spoke, trying to mask her voice. "We need to move quickly if we want to make it to extraction." Skye made light work of their bindings, handing over the spare weapons she had brought for Natasha and the bow and quiver to Clint; also handing the pair a com unit. Skye led the two agents through the facility, his time neglecting any effort to avoid the guards.

"Agent Barton do you read?" Bobbi's voice cracked as the three stepped through the door on the north side of the building.

"Reading you Morse." Clint confirmed, luckily not noticing that Skye almost replied as well.

"We're on the way to extraction, get the jet ready." Skye jumped in, not wanting to hang around for much longer. She motioned for the two agents to follow her into the tree line.

When they made it into the clearing Skye was surprised to see the quinjet was uncloaked, engines silent and the ramp down. Skye raised her weapon and moved as slowly as she could to the jet. "Something's wrong."

"It might be a trap." Clint offered. Skye was glad he was behind her as her eye roll would have given away her identity, which wouldn't be ideal given the situation.

"It's definitely a trap." Natasha corrected, and judging by her tone Skye guessed she had rolled her eyes too. "Take out any hostile in sight, and try not to shoot our pilot this time."

"Once. That happened once." Clint objected before moving toward the jet.

From what Skye could hear; Bobbi was fighting two people. Both sounded very large and very strong. One was closer to the ramp and one was very close to Bobbi. "I'll take the closest one. Barton, take the guy near Morse. Rumor has it you've got decent aim." Skye had to hide a laugh when Clint grunted at her comment. "Three, two…" They moved quickly and the assailants dropped, not even startling Bobbi.

"I could've taken him." Bobbi shrugged, smiling at Natasha. "You look like hell, Romanoff." Bobbi greeted, pulling the smaller woman into a tight hug. "Join me in the cockpit. I'm not sure you want to see this train wreck." Bobbi threw a knowing look at Skye before taking her seat and starting the jet.

"I didn't catch your name Agent…" Clint spoke suspiciously, trying to figure out what Bobbi had meant.

"May as well rip off the band aid." Skye shrugged before pulling down her hood and removing her scarf. "Did you miss me?" Skye asked, hoping to relieve some of her brother's impending anger.

It apparently didn't work. "What the hell are you doing here?" Clint yelled, obviously not appreciating Skye's offhand approach. "Maria was supposed to keep you safe, away from all this danger, not drag you into the middle of it."

"Technically it wasn't her." Skye defended, knowing that it wouldn't make a difference.

"I don't give a damn about technicalities. She obviously trained you and purposefully did so when I was on an extended mission." Clint carried on, angrier than Skye had ever seen him.

"But you're missing the important part here." Skye objected, trying to calm her brother. "I am in the middle of the organization that has been looking out for me for the last five years, maybe even longer. Instead of hoping that someone can get to me in time, I am surrounded by people who know how to fight, and could probably count the different ways to kill someone in less than a second."

"Because that makes me feel better." Clint spoke sarcastically, his volume lowering. "Instead of waiting for me to come back home, instead of living a normal life, you joined a top secret organization and walked right up to the people who killed our brother, who could have killed you."

"Who could have killed you weeks ago." Skye finally exploded. "You did the exact same thing I did, walked right up to the enemy. If SHIELD is so damn dangerous the why are you still here? If you wanted me to be as far away from those people as possible, then why not pack up and move us to Australia, get a job in a grocery store? Why not get as far away from the angry ear as possible instead of poking it with a stick?" Clint blinked, backing away from his sister slightly. "You joined SHIELD to protect people, just like every other Agent. Just like me. Get off of your high horse and realize that I am better off right here, where I know what's coming, instead of serving all day breakfast at some greasy diner and waiting for someone to put a bullet through the back of my skull."

"You're really not a kid anymore." Clint sighed, running his hands over his face.

"I was barely a kid when you met me." Skye berated, gently hugging her brother, knowing he was pretty badly injured.

"You should have been." Clint returned Skye's hug, running a hand through her hair. "I'm really happy to see you."

"Me too." Skye smiled, before forcing her brother to sit down so that she could look over his wounds. He wasn't too badly injured, at least as not as badly as he could have been. "You might get a day or two of down time when we get back."

"Which I will spend yelling at Maria and Director Fury." Clint joked, ruffling Skye's hair. He thought back over the extraction, looking for what he had missed that would have made him realize who their extraction was. "You gave me your bow. That was the only thing that would have given you away."

Skye smiled to herself, glad that she had done better at hiding who she was from her brother. "I rolled my eyes a lot at you. And I purposefully insulted your skill." Skye pointed out, trying to make him feel a little better. "Although I almost replied to Bobbi when she asked if we could hear her."

"I'm kind of glad you didn't." Clint smiled, as the jet lifted off of the ground. "I don't think it would've ended well for us."

"No it wouldn't." Skye shook her head, laughing slightly. "Get some sleep; you look like you could use it." She smiled, putting the med kit back under the seat she was sat on.

"Don't cut my throat while I'm sleeping." He joked, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes.

Skye chucked to herself, resting her head on her brother's shoulder. "Love you." She whispered, her own fatigue pulling at her eyes.

"You too Marion." Clint smiled, putting an arm around Skye. "You too."

 **AN- So this is something I've had for a while and I'm now pretty excited to write it and finish the story line I have planned out. Please let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

Clint and Natasha had been sent to the med bay while Skye and Bobbi changed before going to debrief with Fury. Clint was unconscious when they arrived and wasn't waking, which set Skye on edge during the meeting.

"They were waiting for me to land, hidden in the trees." Bobbi spoke, Skye having already given her report. "They set off a localized EMP to disable the ramp for a few seconds; after they did that it was just an all out fight for control of the jet. Once Agents Barton and Romanoff showed up things got pretty silent. I don't think anyone else knew what was going on, or at least they didn't show it."

"Agent Barton." Fury asked, turning to Skye, who was staring out of the window behind him. "Agent Barton, would you give us your input." Fury spoke again, this time louder.

"Sorry sir." Skye blinked, giving Fury her concentration again. "We got out fairly successfully. But we can't underestimate this group, they're very efficient and will probably know exactly what happened by now and are planning a rebuttal."

"You sound very certain." Fury noted, writing a few words down on a piece of paper before looking back up. "What makes you so sure about that?"

"That's all they've been doing since I was a teenager." Skye explained. "That's all we've been doing and eventually someone's going to do something that they'll regret." Fury noted Skye's tone, as if she was warning him about something. "I don't doubt that they're planning another offensive and when they strike, we may not be able to get back up. We just crippled one of their major outposts; they're not going to take that lying down."

"Thank you Agents." Fury nodded, leaning back in his chair. "Agent Morse, you're free to go. I'd like to speak to our new Agent here."

Bobbi nodded before leaving Fury's office. She shot Skye a look that said 'you'd better not be hiding anything', though she didn't know that there was nothing to worry about.

"Secure office." Fury spoke, waiting for the space to shut down. He moved around his desk and leaned against it, so that he could talk to Skye better. "Did you get it?"

"It caused me a bit of trouble but the information's all there." Skye reported, handing over the flash drive. "It needs some serious work. It took way too long and it beeps really loudly when it's finished."

"I'll get communications to work on it." Fury nodded, placing it in a chest pocket of his jacket. "How's your brother?" He asked concerned. Though he wouldn't tell anyone, he saw Skye as a daughter, a daughter that he desperately wanted to protect.

"Still unconscious." Skye informed him, trying to keep her tears at bay. "The doctors said he should wake up within the next few days, but they don't even know what happened to him." Skye held back a sob, clutching her hands together. "He'll pull through, he always does."

"That's good to hear." Fury smiled. "But there is something else." He smiled, reaching behind him to hand her another badge like the one she had gotten the day before. "I found a loophole, so that I could give you this."

Skye raised an eyebrow and opened the badge to see 'LEVEL 6' written in small print below her name. She smiled slightly, handing over her old badge that had read 'LEVEL 1'. "You must actually trust me if you're giving me this." She remarked, still staring at the badge.

"Of course I trust you." Fury smiled, moving to reengage his office security. "I can still only count that number of people on one hand." He joked, typing at his keyboard for a few seconds.

"I think I need to check in at home, make sure it's ready for when Clint wakes up." Skye smiled, putting her badge in her pocket. "He hates the med bay."

"That he does." Fury remarked. "Take a few days downtime. I'll let you know if we need you back in."

"Thank you sir." Skye smiled before heading for the locker room. She walked past Maria's office and glanced through the glass to see her having an apparently aggravating phone call. Skye knocked on the glass, giving Maria a way out of the call. The older woman smiled and beckoned for Skye to enter.

"There's someone here I need to speak to." Maria spoke into the phone, not caring if she sounded rude. "I'll call you back as soon as she's gone." She let out a sigh once she'd hung up.

"You looked like you were having fun." Skye joked, moving to the middle of the room where she met Maria for hug. "I didn't miss anything did I?"

"No, it's been surprisingly quiet so everyone's on edge." Maria smiled, once she broke the hug. "Congratulations on your promotion, Agent." Hill smiled, moving to sit on the small couch pressed up against the wall.

"It's pretty great since I now outrank my brother." Skye joked, taking a seat next to her SO. "You should actually come home when you're done since I'll have finished cleaning it."

"Getting the place ready for Clint?" Maria asked, already knowing the answer. "I was thinking the same thing." She smiled sadly.

"I know how much he hates hospitals." Skye nodded, leaving the two women in a comfortable silence. "I'm really worried about him."

"I'm not surprised." Hill agreed, running her hands over her face. "I'll bring some take out for dinner, saves you the hastle of going grocery shopping."

"I know I haven't been home because I was under strict supervision for the last six weeks, but have you left the base at all since we started training?" Skye asked, not surprised that Maria had been glued to her desk.

"I think I've slept on this couch for the past week." Maria admitted, holding back a yawn. "I'll probably be stuck here until late if I don't call ASIS back." She pushed herself off of the sofa and made her way back to her desk. "Contrary to popular belief the Australians are not laid back."

"Good luck." Skye smiled, leaving Maria's office.

Skye made a quick stop at the locker room to grab her things before heading to the parking lot to grab her bike, only to see Bobbi leaning on it. Skye rolled her eyes and put on a smile to greet the older woman.

"You've been hiding something." Bobbi accused, apparently not wanting to waste any time. "I don't care what it is, but if I find out it's nothing good then I go straight to Peirce. Fury would go too easy on you."

Skye sighed; surprised Bobbi hadn't put two and two together yet. "Getting Clint and Natasha wasn't my only mission. Fury sent me in for something else. Please don't ask me any more questions about it, I've already told you more than I was supposed to."

Bobbi didn't seem satisfied with Skye's answer, but she let it slide. "I ran into Agent Hand on the way here, she wants us in next Monday, possibly earlier."

Skye just nodded, waiting for Bobbi move, which she eventually did. "See you Monday Morse."

"Barton." Bobbi nodded, watching Skye speed away. Instead of going to the gym like she had planned, Bobbi headed up to communications to find out what Skye was doing, calling in favors to keep what she was doing a secret.

Skye pulled up in front of their apartment, locking up her bike as securely as you could when you lived in DC. Skye made her way up to her apartment, which just happened to be one of several in their building that had two floors. She had assumed this was because of how many people would be living there, but she now knew SHIELD had given Clint and Maria the apartment so there was probably that factored in. It didn't matter much to Skye because she knew she would be seeing it a lot less often.

It wasn't too messy, but it was like there was a thin layer of dust across everything. "A little longer than a week Maria." Skye sighed, moving to grab the cleaning supplies from under the sink. She began cleaning the kitchen and the living room, dreading to see how messy Clint's room was. At the orphanage he was always the kid that got told off for leaving mess everywhere and she doubted that SHIELD had changed him that much. After forty minutes, she decided to take a break. If you called going out for groceries a break.

Skye walked to a Wal-Mart a few blocks away and began typing away on her phone to write a grocery list so she could cook some of Clint's favourite foods. She walked almost automatically, not even having to look at most of the things she put in the cart, with the exception of making sure Clint had his favourite pink lady grapes. Skye had made fun of him for that for years, but each time he was adamant that they were the best grapes so she gave up on trying to dissuade him. After a few minutes more of walking around the store, Skye noticed that someone was following her. She didn't need to turn and look because she could hear them being exceptionally loud for someone trying to tail a SHIELD agent.

Skye pulled out her phone and pressed number three on her speed dial, Natasha. The older woman had insisted Skye put her number in her phone incase she couldn't get hold of Maria or Clint, which until now, she hadn't anticipated she would need.

"Skye what's wrong?" Natasha asked as soon as she picked up the phone.

"Someone's been tailing me, I need you to make sure Clint is okay." Skye spoke as quickly and quietly as possible, so that her tail wouldn't hear her. "I know he's in a SHIELD medical facility but these people have broken into SHIELD before, and I wouldn't put it past them to go after him."

"I haven't left his side, and I'll make sure at least two well trusted agents are with him at all times." Natasha nodded, not questioning Skye's worry.

"I might be overreacting but I don't want to regret not making sure he's safe." Skye spoke, realizing that he may be a little ridiculous with what she was asking.

"I'll let Agent Hill know that someone's following you." Natasha suggested. "She could probably be back at the apartment in the next fifteen minutes. Stay safe until then."

"Of course I will." Skye smiled, before having an idea. "Try to have either Agent Hartley or Morse watch him when you're not there. They're trustworthy and because they know the two of you it will look less suspicious."

"I'll call them in after I've spoken to Maria. Stay safe." Natasha spoke before hanging up the phone.

Skye sighed before speeding up a little and gathering the rest of the items she would need for the apartment. After checking out Skye began her walk home, now noticing that the number of people following her had now increased. She smiled a little to herself, glad that she had called Natasha. A few blocks before Skye reached the apartment complex, she ducked into an alley, speeding up and jumping over several fences in an attempt to shake off her tail.

"Stake out her place, she won't be able to hide for long." One man yelled, his voice carrying over to where Skye was crouched. Skye shook her head, admiring their mistake. She made a quick dash up the fire stairs while the people following her took the long way round, glad that Clint had insisted that they be able to get in and out through the small window on the upper landing, just incase something happened and they needed to disappear.

Skye opened the window and slid through, moving as silently as she could, now wishing she had gotten a plastic bag instead of the paper one that looked like it was ready to rip apart. Before she went down the stairs, Skye retrieved the gun Clint had taped to the underside of the sideboard that stood a few feet out of sight from anyone downstairs. She raised it and crept over to the stairs, leaning round the corner to make sure that nobody was waiting at the bottom. When she made it half way down Skye heard the door open and sprinted behind one of the sofas, listening carefully to the footsteps that were entering the space.

Too light to be the people that were following her, only one set and they were checking the windows instead of any rooms that someone could hide in. "Maria?" Skye asked, slightly hesitant to look.

"Not exactly." A voice spoke back.

"Morse?" Skye asked, moving from her hiding spot. "How the hell did you know I was being followed, I asked that Agent Romanoff get you to guard Clint but you shouldn't have gotten here this fast."

"Honestly," Bobbi started holstering her weapon. "I thought you were working with some group like the KGB. I called in some favors in communications and they told me that you hadn't officially been sent in for anything else like you'd told me. I got them to start to track your location and I saw that some people were following you. They're unconscious in an alley round the corner."

Skye blinked a few times, taking in Bobbi's explanation. "I don't know if I should be glad you're here or pissed off that you were investigating me."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Bobbi smiled nervously, shifting on her feet slightly. "I'll see you on Monday, if I haven't been court martialled by then."

"I'll tell Fury about what happened, you'll be fine." Skye reassured the older woman, watching as she left the apartment.

"Thanks Barton." Bobbi smiled, before heading down the corridor.

Skye smiled, chuckling slightly. Though it was not the strangest day of her life, it was definitely up there with the time Clint was recovering from being hit by aerosolized hallucinogens. She began cleaning the rest of the apartment, it taking a surprisingly short amount of time given how long she spent cleaning before her eventful grocery trip.

Once she finished, she started to upgrade their security, making sure nobody could get in. They were lucky that it was Bobbi who broke in instead of someone who wanted to kill them.

"Skye?" Maria called up the stairs, apparently having taken more than fifteen minutes to get there.

"I'm up here." She called, barely taking her eyes off the screen. After a few seconds Skye heard footsteps on the stairs and a light tap on her door. "Come in, I'm just upgrading our security."

Maria walked in and leant on the desk next to Skye. "I got a missed call from Natasha, and one from Agent Morse, you had a pretty eventful day for your day off."

"It was pretty quiet all things considered." Skye shrugged, finishing off her upgrade of the programme. "I did find out though that it's way too easy to get into our apartment, and that espionage is really going down hill nowadays."

Maria stood up, pushing herself off of the desk. "I bought Chinese, I'll leave some in the microwave for when you're done here." Maria headed downstairs, Skye heard her opening the food she had bought, the smell drifting up to her room. She saved her progress on the security and headed downstairs, just having to hope that it wouldn't be needed for the half hour it would take to eat.

"It smelled too good to wait." Skye smiled, walking over to Maria who was sat on the sofa.

"It always is." Maria laughed, handing Skye a small box and some chopsticks. "They didn't have any fried prawns this time so I got you prawn fried rice instead."

"Sounds amazing." Skye smiled, gleefully looking at the contents of the box. "Is Agent Morse going to get court martialled?" Skye asked, becoming very serious.

"No, I think Fury's just glad she was there." Maria reassured Skye, continuing to eat her noodles. "He can be a bit of an overprotective dad sometimes but he's not going to stay mad at someone who might have possibly saved your life."

"Good." Skye nodded, taking a bite of her food. "You're a part of this family right?" Skye asked suddenly, having never asked during the five years she had lived with Maria. "You and Nick, you're part of our family?"

Maria thought for a minute, stopping eating. "I guess we are, I'd never thought about that." Maria smiled, putting her food down. "But I am far too young to be a mother figure." Maria laughed, moving over to the fridge to retrieve a beer and a coke.

"No, you're like a big sister, just like Clint's my big brother." Skye smiled, accepting the drink from Maria. "I guess Nick's my dad, in some strange way."

"Director?" Bobbi asked, knocking on Fury's office door.

"Come in." Nick called, waiting to see who was about to enter. "Agent Morse, how can I help you?"

"I have a question about Skye." Bobbi started. "Multiple questions actually." She took a breath before jumping into the deep end. "Like how is she already level six when so many other agents had to work their way up to that clearance level?"

Nick nodded, taking a breath. "Something is coming. I don't know what it is yet, I'm not sure if I'll ever know. But I need someone I can trust, someone our enemies don't know, to find out. That's why she's here."

"So it has nothing to do with her brother?" Bobbi asked almost accusatory. "I asked back when you put me on her intake, but I didn't exactly get an answer."

"Her family is just a bonus." Nick nodded, beginning to understand what most of SHIELD might think when they hear about her. "If she had still been at that orphanage, I might never have heard about her no. Her family put her in danger, and instead of running away, she trained. She worked to be strong enough to keep her family safe." Nick thought for a moment before continuing. "I suppose you could say that she's here because of her brother, but she got to stay because she proved herself as an agent. She got that clearance, because she proved herself. You once warned me that she'd get herself killed, do you still believe that?"

Bobbi stood, thinking over her answer. Skye had managed to survive the last mission sure, but she could always mess up on their mission next week. "Give me two weeks, then I'll have your answer." Bobbi smiled, nodding to Nick before heading out of his office.

 **AN- So here's chapter 2 a lot later than I expected it since I have been doing training for my new job. I am super amazed by the response to this story and I loved reading all of the reviews (even the mean ones) but I hope that I have explained why Skye was picked up by Fury. At least one person asked about that. And I hope that this doesn't get too predictable like most of my other stories. Please keep letting me know what you like and don't like and do keep favouriting and following if you like the fic.**

 **Amy x**


	3. Chapter 3

Two months later, Bobbi could confidently say that she didn't think that Skye would get herself killed. They'd successfully taken down a human trafficking cartel on the Mexican border, and Skye hadn't dropped cover once. She was a perfect fit with the cartel; it was almost scary to watch.

"Not what you thought being a SHIELD agent would be like is it?" Bobbi asked Skye while they flew back to Washington.

"Honestly no." Skye shook her head, taking a long drink of water. "All of the missions I'd done up until now were more about going in guns blazing, stopping threats that were on the brink of destroying a society. I guess I wasn't expecting to be going undercover so soon."

"It's not always easy or simple." Bobbi shook her head, taking the bottle that Skye was offering her. "I remember it took me a few years to get used to the espionage. I went into the academy with a biology degree and came out like some battle hardened soldier." Bobbi gave Skye the water back, leaning back in the slightly uncomfortable seats. "But the job isn't meant to be easy, not when the stakes are this high."

"I guess I see that now." Skye nodded, having had to do some pretty terrible things to keep up her cover. "I know we protect people but over the last few months I hurt people. I was so heartless. How do you cope?"

"By knowing that those girls won't be hurt again. That those men can't do that to anyone else." Bobbi replied, not certain herself if it would help. "I guess that feeling never completely goes away but if you carry on protecting people, do enough good, maybe we can make up for all of the bad."

"Agent Barton." The pilot called through the PA system. "Agent Romanoff is on channel 5 for you."

"Thank you Agent Weller." Skye smiled, turning on her com unit. "Romanoff, what's happening?"

"I wasn't able to get a hold of you while you were undercover, but they managed to find out what happened to Clint." She started, taking an audible breath. "There was a small aneurism in his brain; he most likely got it a few days before the escape. It slowly began to clot which caused him to pass out. He's now partially deaf in his left ear and some of the agents are petitioning to have him stripped of his clearance. We've done as much as we can to rehabilitate him and its going okay; he's just worried sick about you."

Skye stayed silent as Natasha spoke, finding it almost impossible to breathe. He almost died because she wasn't quick enough.

"Skye?" Natasha asked when the younger woman didn't respond. "Skye, you need to know that he's okay. He's up on his feet and near perfect. And now you need to breathe and tell me that you're okay."

Skye released the breath she was holding and attempted to speak. "I'm fine." She whispered, not trusting her voice.

"Skye?" Bobbi asked, now worried about her partner in crime. "What happened?"

"I'm fine." Skye said louder, almost as if she was convincing herself that she was okay. Her vision began to blur and go dark, her body shifting forward until her head was on her lap. She shook her head slightly, as if she were trying to wake up from a bad nightmare.

"We'll touch down in the next half hour or so." The pilot announced, the jet slowing down.

The quinjet touched down, various agents made their way down the ramp, and Skye stayed where she was, her head buried in her legs. Bobbi shook Skye slightly before realizing the younger agent had fallen asleep. She picked her up and carried her out of the jet only to walk into Maria, Clint and Natasha. A very worried Maria, Clint and Natasha.

"She's just asleep." Bobbi reassured them, still tenderly holding Skye in her arms. "Only fell asleep about twenty minutes ago." She didn't make to offer Skye to one of the agents in front of her, though she didn't realize her reluctance.

"The news must have shaken her up more than I realized." Natasha spoke, apparently very angry with herself. "I thought she was happy you were okay."

"She'd had a rough two months as well." Bobbi started, looking down at Skye. "She was beating herself up about our cover." Bobbi looked back up at the group around her. "She hasn't slept well either."

"I can imagine." Maria nodded, slight remorse in her voice. "It was a pretty nasty assignment; Fury was pretty pissed when he heard Hand had already sent the two of you out. He almost risked recalling you; I managed to talk him out of it. He would have gotten the two of you killed."

"She'll be exhausted for the next few days, I'll ask Fury if he'll give her some time before her debrief." Bobbi informed the group in front of her, realizing she had been holding Skye for too long. Clint opened his arms and took Skye's sleeping form from the tall blonde.

"Thank you, Agent Morse." Clint almost smiled, seriousness glazing his eyes. "For looking after my sister."

Bobbi shook her head. "She looked after me. She was the strong one back there." Bobbi smiled slightly. "I'll try and call in on her in a day or two, see how she'd handling everything." She waved slightly to the group before heading to the elevator, leaving Clint to cradle Skye in his arms.

…

"Hello again Skye." Doctor Garner smiled, opening the door to his office to let Skye enter. It had been weeks since Skye was ordered to go through therapy and she hadn't spoken, hadn't looked up, just stayed curled up in a chair. This was where she was then, curled up on a chair.

"This silence isn't helping you." Andrew spoke after a few minutes. "At first, I understood why you wouldn't open up, but now it will only do damage."

Skye looked up, an eye raised. "I'm not saying anything because I don't know how to describe it." She shook her head a little and rested her chin on her knees.

"Why don't you tell me the facts?" Andrew suggested, leaning back in his chair. "Tell me the facts as you see them, and maybe we can start to find a way to describe how you feel."

"I hurt people, the people we were supposed to protect." Skye's eyes glazed over a little as she remembered. "They were little girls and it was my job to make them comply, to keep them under control. But their methods were torture. We'd beat them, they'd rape them and I would have to stand and watch. And if someone proved to be resistant, I would have to kill them. All because Agent Hand wanted us to stick to her schedule, to her clock, when those kids didn't have months or even days to wait. I didn't do my job and I am being praised for that. Told that it's okay when nothing like that should ever be okay."

"Do you feel guilty?" Andrew asked, leaning forward.

"More like pissed off." Skye muttered, rolling her eyes. "I have all of this anger inside of me and no way to release it, no way to control it. My brother has sparred with me for what feels like every second of every day for a month and all it does is exhaust me enough to sleep at night. And even then I have nightmares. So there's no point wasting your time with me anymore."

Skye made to leave but Andrew grabbed her wrist, stopping her in her tracks.

"Try tai chi, it's supposed to help." He spoke before letting Skye leave. She stood outside of his office confused for a few seconds before shaking it off and heading home.

…

Tai chi did help; her anger was almost completely gone overnight, though she sometimes felt like it had been a waste. She was smiling again, and when Clint and Maria really tried they got her to laugh, but she was still a long way from being her usual self. Her sessions with Dr Garner soon came to an end and he cleared her for field missions, though advising she have a little more time before any more undercover work. She was to see him after every mission until he deemed it unnecessary.

"Barton, long time no see." Bobbi smiled, jogging to catch up with Skye. "I'm glad you're somewhat okay. Have you been cleared for missions yet?"

"As long as it isn't undercover." Skye spoke, flashing a fake smile. "The shrink still thinks I'm going to break down or something." She chuckled slightly, making a poor effort to seem like her usual self.

"I've been given command of a small unit to track down some arms dealers in Europe." Bobbi started, knowing full well that Skye wasn't lying as well as she could. "Nothing undercover, just following some leads, seeing where they end up. I'm allowed to chose who I take with me. Did you want me to save you a space or do you need a little more time?"

"I think I'll take you up on that." Skye smiled, surprising both herself and Bobbi. "The longer it takes to get back the happier I'll be."

"Good to hear." Bobbi smiled, before beginning to walk away. "We're leaving at eight tomorrow morning; I'll meet you in hangar seven." With that she sped away, apparently having even more that she needed to do.

Skye watched for a few seconds before turning around and heading to the garage. She had a lot of packing to do.

…

"Are you sure you're ready?" Clint asked for what Skye felt was the millionth time. He had been asking her since she informed him that she was going on a mission. "Because you only just began to feel better, I wouldn't want you to get worse because you pushed yourself too hard."

"I'll be fine." Skye rolled her eyes, taking apart her side arm and cleaning it. "Besides if I stay here any longer I'll go crazy."

"She was cleared for field work, and a small team for an extended period of time is a good place to start." Maria shrugged, continuing to stir the vegetables she had been frying.

"Thank you." Skye smiled; almost relieved that someone thought she was ready.

"I still don't like it." Clint pouted, practically perched on the counter next to Maria. "But I've serviced your bow anyway so you should at least be able to rely on that."

"Thank you, my dear overprotective brother. I don't know how I would cope without you." Skye joked, being as overdramatic as possible. She began to assemble her gun, not needing to look and doing it surprisingly quickly. "Now I have to finish cleaning my gear, it's probably turned to stone by now."

"No need, I've been looking after it for you." Maria smiled, indicating the bag on the coffee table. "You know I'm not a kid any more."

"You are to us Marion, you are to us." Clint smiled, ruffling Skye's hair.

"I can fire a bow now too." Skye argued, batting away Clint's arm. "You don't get to be exclusively Robin Hood."

"I am, however, the better marksman." Clint smiled, bowing grandiosely. "Until the day you can shoot better than me, you will still be Marion."

"If you're done bickering, food's ready." Maria rolled her eyes, passing a bowl to both Skye and Clint before picking up her own.

"Thanks Maria." Skye smiled, hungrily accepting the food. "You make the best Mexican food." Skye's eyes widened for a minute before she began eating making smaller bites than usual.

"Shit, sorry Skye." Maria frowned, putting down her own food.

"It's fine." Skye shrugged, taking more eager bites. "It's just food."

Maria just nodded, not feeling any better about the situation. Luckily, her phone rang, pulling her from the conversation.

"Hill… Yes sir… Right away… I'll have it dealt with before sunrise." Maria quickly hung up, rushing to grab her coat and keys. "We have a bit of a situation, nothing too troublesome. I just need to go in right away."

"Don't overwork yourself." Clint called to Maria as she left the apartment, earning only a laugh from the deputy director. "I'm going to take this up and finish my reports. You should think about getting some sleep." Clint once again ruffled Skye's hair, chuckling to himself.

"Love you." Skye called up the stairs while her brother's form retreated. She left her food next to Maria's, both barely touched.

…

That night Skye barely slept, worried that Maria hadn't finished at SHIELD come daybreak, and as the hours trudged on Skye felt less and less like sleeping. But six o'clock finally came around and Skye began to prepare for the next few weeks ahead, finishing the last of her packing, servicing her gear. She didn't eat, she didn't know if she could. But she had an hour and a half until Bobbi's team left for Europe, so she planned to head up to the Triskelion, planning to spend some time with a punching bag.

She stopped at the front door when she heard Clint on the stairs. "Not saying goodbye Marion?" But he wasn't joking this time.

"It's not goodbye." Skye shook her head. "Just a 'see you later'."

"See you later." Clint nodded, stood almost frozen. "Don't die out there."

"I should be saying that to you, Robin Hood." Skye smiled, stepping through the door and closing it behind her.

For a while she stood frozen, guilty that she hadn't thought about saying goodbye and worried about what would happen to him once he was cleared for field work. Though he had made strides, the doctors were reluctant to let him out in the field while he was partially deaf. Something that Skye wouldn't fight too hard against. But she took a step forward anyway, and the next. She shook off her worry and left like she had intended, while Clint stood frozen on the stairs, dreading the next few weeks.

 **AN- I am still blown away by the support you guys have given me, it's so amazing. I have written a shorter chapter because the beginning of the next chapter didn't really it with the tone, but I should be uploading that sometime within the next week so keep an eye out. But please do carry on giving me your feedback, whether it's positive or negative because I would love to see what you think of the direction this is heading in.**

 **Amy .**


	4. Chapter 4

When Skye walked into the Triskelion she was amazed by how many people were there at seven am. It was usually busy but something major must have happened, especially if Maria was caught up in the middle of it. Crates of weapons were being pushed though the space, with many agents bustling around them. The crates had 'STARK INDUSTRIES' painted on the side, and they looked like they had been confiscated.

She didn't look too closely into it and decided to head for the commissary, certain that the gym would be busy until late that morning. She made a beeline for the coffee machines, planning to get a large cup before heading down to the hangar. Skye wasn't sure but she thought Bobbi might be down there running a check on whatever plane they were taking, so she poured a second cup and picked up two pastries, though unsure if Bobbi would even want the coffee or food. She walked the long way up to the hangar, avoiding any busy corridors so that she wouldn't spill them.

When she made it to the plane, she found Bobbi stood talking with a few technicians, arranging supplies. Skye kept her distance, waiting for Bobbi to finish talking before offering her the coffee. It didn't take more than a minute for Bobbi to finish her conversation and head further down the large hangar. Skye began walking toward her, speeding up slightly to catch her while she was walking.

"Morse." Skye called when she was a few feet away. "I figured you'd be here." She smiled, handing over a coffee and a pastry.

"Thanks for this. I've been here since late last night; this whole Stark thing has everyone spread pretty thin." Bobbi sighed, bags visible under her eyes.

"What is going on with that? I saw them moving some of his weaponry when I came in." Skye asked, taking a sip of her own coffee.

"The Air Force picked him up this morning and we've been handling the clean up." Bobbi explained before taking a large gulp of the scalding liquid. "He escaped from a heavily armed group of terrorists while wearing a giant metal suit that could fly, Hill's been up to her ears in work trying to keep it under wraps. Luckily, nobody's dug up anything too worrying but she's sending a team in to deal with him."

"Sounds like a pain in the ass." Skye rolled her eyes, almost certain that it would mean many more sleepless nights for her honorary sister. "They won't be able to contain it forever and then they'll have to deal with the thousands of big bad guys who want to make the same thing."

"I barely managed to get out of the mess thanks to Sitwell practically demanding that I join the clean up that's heading out to look for the suit. I think that was the first time I actually liked Agent Hand, given that she'll be sending us locations and targets." She joked, slowing her pace as they reached a quinjet that was already being prepped.

"Don't let her hear you say that or she'll think you don't appreciate her." Skye smiled, finishing the last of her coffee.

"Who doesn't Barbara appreciate?" A very tall, very muscular man asked, walking up to the pair. He gave Bobbi a quick hug before directing his attention to Skye. "I'm Mack; I usually work on engineering when Barbara here doesn't need me to punch a few guys." Bobbi rolled her eyes at this.

"Agent Barton, specialist. Though my only missions have been with Agent Morse here so I'm not really living up to the whole one man strike team." Skye nodded, her smile having now gone.

Mack nodded, apparently having heard about her before. "You'd be the impulsive newbie, I've heard good things."

"One can hope." Skye smiled awkwardly, wanting desperately for the encounter to be over. She wasn't a big fan of new people, despite how well her therapy had gone.

"She's just getting back into the field remember, so play nice." Bobbi spoke, a harsh warning lacing her words. "Skye, did you want to head down to ammunition with me? I can't sign off on any arrows since they're restricted to you and your brother."

Skye was glad of the escape and quickly nodded her head, not wanting to admit that she wasn't fond of their situation.

"I'll finish up on the jet." Mack nodded before heading back into the quinjet.

"Not a fan of people?" Bobbi asked as they left the hangar, not wanting to jump to too harsh a conclusion.

"Not new people." Skye shook her head. "There's a reason why I opted to become a specialist, I don't play too well with others, it comes from living in an orphanage while you're a kid."

Bobbi nodded, knowing that Skye wouldn't open up to her. She shouldn't have hoped that the younger agent would open up, she was part of the mission that broke Skye, it was a miracle that she even agreed to join the team. "There are only a few agents left to meet. Agent Hartley, who you met briefly and Agent Carter, who joined the same year myself and Isabelle joined. We all shared a dorm at one point or another."

"Sounds like you've had this planned out for a while." Skye frowned, unsure if she would be able to handle being in such a big group. Sure she was a good enough agent to lie bout it, but that didn't mean the walking lie detector next to her wouldn't realize straight away.

"Not really." Bobbi shrugged, thinking back to when she had first been approached for the assignment. "I wanted to work with people I trust." Bobbi took a moment before continuing, not sure how Skye would react. "You were actually at the top of my list. You're a good agent; I could easily put my life in your hands and know that you'd make the right decision, even if I didn't think it was right at the time."

"At least someone has faith in me." Skye muttered, remembering her brother's insistence that she needn't go out into the field yet. Sure he might have just been feeling lonely but he was so close to being cleared for field work that he wouldn't have to spend more than a week alone in their apartment. Besides, the last thing Skye wanted was to spend more time in DC; she had gotten very bored of the city very quickly.

…

It was ten minutes to eight and the rest of Bobbi's team would soon be arriving; apparently this was how things usually worked with the small group. They would flip a coin to decide who would prep the jet, and according to Mack he always found himself on the prep team. He didn't mind though, he actually knew how to fix anything that was broken. But it was enough to make Skye anxious. She wasn't fond of making connections anymore, she didn't like it. While yes she had been undercover, it sill pained Skye to kill people she had come to know as friends, even though those false friends were completely evil. She had to remind herself that she wouldn't have to kill these friends.

"Morse." A loud voice beamed.

Skye turned to see two women stepping up the ramp of the quinjet. One she recognized, the other she didn't. The first was Agent Hartley, one of the women who had brought Skye in. She hadn't changed much, only built up more muscle and had longer hair. She seemed more like Mack, waiting for someone to need her to throw a punch. Bobbi was the opposite, trying to be as strong and as nimble as she was able, and like Skye in the 'go in alone and get it done' mentality. The second woman seemed like Bobbi. She was blonde, not much taller than Skye and was stunningly beautiful. Skye didn't quite understand how all of the female agents who needed to go undercover, and preferably unnoticed, tried their hardest to look as breathtaking as possible. Surely the point was to get in and out with no one suspecting you, not to make all heads turn your way and make yourself the centre of attention. Though in some mission files Skye had read, it managed to distract the person they were supposed to capture or kill.

"Izzy, Sharon, meet Skye." Bobbi spoke after exchanging small talk with the two. "She will hopefully be joining our little band of brothers should heaven forbid she actually like you." She winked to the two, trying to dress down Skye's obvious distaste for strangers.

"Nice to meet you Agent Barton." Izzy smiled, holding out a hand for Skye to shake, which she did so hesitantly. "If your skills are anything like when we first met you'll be a great addition."

"If that's true then I look forward to working with you." Sharon smiled politely before moving to interact with Mack.

Skye was bombarded with questions from Izzy, who apparently wanted to become fast friends. Despite how unpleasant it was, Skye had to admit that it was working and her liking for the other agent had increased dramatically. She had learnt that Izzy hated the colour pink, enjoyed watching reality TV and had gotten away with many drunken outbursts while she was at the academy purely by bribing the agent in charge with copious amounts of alcohol, cake and the odd flirtation. According to Bobbi it was a sight to behold, watching her then eighteen year old friend seduce a man who never smiled and always refused to engage in conversation. Izzy swore that she never slept with the man but Bobbi would laugh that she slept with a lot of the other instructors at the academy instead, missing off the part that she had hooked up with most of them after she graduated.

"It's nothing on you; you slept with a target for information after your mission was over." Izzy had accused while they were somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.

"I married a target." Bobbi rolled her eyes, remembering the six months she had spent with Hunter. "Believe me it was nothing romantic and I don't intend to be seeing him again any time soon." Bobbi got distracted when her phone rang, interrupting her story.

Izzy let Bobbi take the call and directed her attention to Skye. "Got any stories of your own?" She asked, having noticed Skye's silence.

"My brother did catch me shirtless with my boyfriend once." Skye remembered, shaking her head at the memory. "He was supposed to be on a mission with Natasha and Maria was on the helicarrier for a few days. I'd brought my boyfriend back to our apartment, though it certainly wasn't the first time so I guess we thought we'd be safe. We were on the couch, making out, and he pulled my shirt off right as my brother stepped through the door."

Izzy had broken into a fit of laughter, imagining the look on Clint's face.

"But that's not the best part." Skye spoke, trying to hold back her own laughter. "He was making out with Natasha so neither of us noticed for like a full minute."

That pushed the two women over the edge and they began crying with laughter, trying desperately to stop.

"What's so funny?" Bobbi asked when they had mostly stopped laughing.

"Don't worry about it." Skye shrugged, having finally stopped giggling.

"Well I've got something that'll probably set you off again." Bobbi spoke, directing her words at Izzy. "The first informant we've got to speak to is none other than my ex-husband."

And I certainly did send them into laughter again. Bobbi chuckled slightly, amused by their reactions, but more because she noticed how comfortable Skye was. If she'd known that all it would take to break down Skye's walls was a few crude jokes then she would have made Dr Garner open his sessions with them. She did like seeing Skye smile again, like Mexico had never happened. But it obviously had and it would take a lot more than one conversation to bring out the old Skye. But it was nice to see that she was still in there, even for a short while.

 **AN- Here's the latest chapter. I was struggling with writer's block for a little while because I was constantly rewriting the conversation Bobbi and Skye had on their way to ammunition. I am finally happy with it though and am really pumped to write Skye meeting Hunter because I think there's the potential for it to be a lot of fun. As always I am amazed by the reception I've gotten and I am so pleased that you are enjoying the story. Don't forget to let me know what you think and follow the story if you want to read more.**

 **Amy x**


	5. Chapter 5

When they touched down at the SHIELD airfield in England, all traces of laughter faded away. Bobbi stopped being Bobbi and became Agent Morse, the kick ass that apparently hated everyone that so much as looked at her the wrong way. Skye wasn't expecting anything different from the woman though, given that she had seen Bobbi a lot, especially as the woman was her only sanity at one point. She hated to admit it but she was beginning to admire the woman who apparently had many faces. Izzy was the opposite, still smiling and making sarcastic comments as they walked past a certain agent that she had dated once, or someone she had beaten the living daylights out of when attending the academy. She was a wealth of stories and humor, and Skye loved it. Sharon however was stoic, much like Mack, the pair rolling their eyes at the same time and huffing when Izzy made a terrible pun. It was quite a sight to behold, the four friends. They obviously shared a sense of trust that you wouldn't see in an ordinary group of friends, or even in some families. They reminded Skye of Clint, Maria and herself, and sometimes Natasha if they weren't cooking Thai food for dinner. The woman had a strong hate for the stuff. They were so in sync and so effortless about everything they did, everything they said. It was like they were their own family, brothers and sisters who had chosen to be each other's family, who had chosen to stand by each other above all else.

Of course when it came to choosing who would retrieve the package from Lance Hunter, ex SAS officer and mercenary, a small part of them wanted it to be Bobbi, as it would be a very amusing reunion for the pair. They had met a few times since their divorce but it was never to do with business like this. Apparently Hunter would take full advantage of the fact that Bobbi needed something from him and that it wouldn't be beyond him to be spiteful and malicious about handing it over. A small part of Skye wanted to see it too, but she ultimately sided with Bobbi, wanting to see for herself what he would be like.

"I swear if you all gang up on me I will shoot you." Bobbi warned, loudly dropping a 5mm on the table.

"Don't vote for Bobbi." Skye spoke, as if she were taking cliff notes. "Got it." She ran her hands over her thighs a little, trying to rub the sweat off of her palms. To say she was nervous was an understatement. Her first big mission back in the field and everything had to go well, be perfect probably, if she wanted to go back to solo missions.

"Alright everyone, on the count of three we'll say who should go to the pick up." Bobbi nodded, taking a seat in between Mack and Izzy. Skye was sat on her own, with one of her knees pulled up so that she could rest her head on it.

Skye rolled her eyes at the group, amazed that they ever got anything done. "I'll do it." Skye volunteered in a monotone voice, doing very well to hide the determination in her tone. She didn't want to admit that she liked the thought of meeting her friend's ex-husband, just so that she could make him squirm a little.

Four pairs of eyes snapped to Skye, their eyebrows raised.

"I assume he knows at least some of you so if I go in there won't be an excuse to hold back on his end of the deal." Skye shrugged, pulling the excuse out of thin air.

"Baby bird does have a point." Mack nodded, a hand moving subconsciously to his chin.

"Baby bird?" Bobbi asked, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, her brother is Hawkeye." Mack defended rather feebly. "It makes sense." He whined, pouting at the group. For a few seconds they took it seriously before they burst into laughter.

"When am I meeting him?" Skye asked, standing up and pulling her phone out of her pocket.

"Noon, you've got four hours to get ready." Bobbi nodded, forcing herself to stop laughing.

"I'll have everything ready in three." Skye spoke, walking out of the room. "And for the record…" She called over her shoulder. "I like baby bird."

…

True to her word, Skye had everything ready by eleven. A van so that Bobbi and Izzy could be on surveillance, a sniper for Mack so that he could keep an eye out from a distance and call out threats, and weapons for herself and Sharon to have concealed on them while they met with Hunter. She'd even changed into one of the few changes of civilian clothes she had, looking as inconspicuous as she could without making it obvious.

"You did a good job Barton." Izzy nodded approvingly when she hopped into the front of the van.

"Let's get into position." Bobbi nodded to everyone before climbing into the van herself.

Sharon and Skye left in a small black car that they had spray painted so that the SHIELD logo wasn't showing. Mack got onto a large motorcycle and headed out, quickly splitting off from the group so that nobody knew that he was part of the group, Bobbi and Izzy soon doing the same.

When they came to the café Hunter had chosen, something was off. There were too many people, too many people constantly looking around them and ignoring their now cold drinks.

"This is Agent Barton, it appears we've been set up." Skye informed the rest of the team over the radio. "Should we proceed?"

"Proceed with plan A, we can deal with a few setbacks later." Bobbi's voice came back, slightly crackled.

"I'll try to look as normal as possible, you just locate Hunter." Sharon nodded to Skye, the two women stepping out of the car.

Sharon entered first, looking amazingly like she hadn't noticed anyone else was there. Skye however, couldn't afford to look nonchalant, she had to get the package. After a quick scan of the room, Skye realized that there were more than just a few setbacks sat in the café, there were dozens, each apparently working for different people. The Russians had a man here, and it looked like the British did too. Whatever was going on, it appeared the world was planning to watch.

She located Hunter on a table in the back of the café, happily sipping on his drink. He was easy to identify because he was the only person who wasn't looking around. A few quick paces later and Skye was sat opposite the man who had a rather large folder sat in front of him with the word 'CLASSIFIED' stamped in large red letters across the front.

"I assume you're here for this." He smiled, tapping a knuckle on the files. "I had hoped they'd send Bobbi but I guess you'll have to do." Hunter winked, taking another sip of his tea.

"She's too close to you." Skye spoke as monotonously as she could manage. "We don't want her getting distracted."

"Why's that, love? Does she miss me?" Hunter asked, leaning forward. "Or did you want a go yourself?"

"She'd be far too distracted ripping you apart to get the information. Which, by the way, is the only thing I want from you." Skye smiled sweetly, batting her eyelashes a little.

"That hurt a little bit." Hunter feigned hurt, rubbing his chest slightly, as if his heart ached. "I hope you realize that the second I hand this over to you the rest of the goons in this place will fight you for it."

"Will they?" Skye asked, flashing him another smile. Almost as if from nowhere, Skye pulled out a grenade and hit it on the ground, pulling Hunter out of the flash shortly after. The rest of the people in the room were unconscious, many drinks having been knocked over. Sharon was conscious however, and rolled her eyes before pulling out her weapon and moving to stand next to Skye's table.

"I'd say we've got three minutes before their backup arrives." Sharon spoke quickly, keeping her eyes fixed on the window.

"Bring him in." Bobbi ordered, her voice slightly annoyed as she spoke. "He's hiding something."

"It's your lucky day." Skye beamed, taking the file and standing up from her seat while Hunter made agitated noises in the background. "Your ex-wife does want to see you."

"And that makes up for you stealing my information." He shouted, standing up in an attempt to seem more threatening. "I told you lot that I wanted payment and if I don't get it I will shoot you both and leave with that file."

Skye simply raised an eyebrow, tilting her head slightly. "We have a sniper in position ready to shoot you if you attempt to leave with that information. I also have your ex in my ear telling me that the only thing I have to do to make you come with us is promise that you'll have a hard time explaining to your former employer why you're stood alone in a room with dead and unconscious bodies around you." Skye smiled slightly as Hunter paled. "Would you like to come willingly?"

 **AN- This chapter is a little shorter than the others but I really enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Please let me know what you think by leaving a review and if you liked this story don't forget to follow it. See you in the next chapter,**

 **Amy x**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN- Just a quick note that I've had to condense the time scale a little bit so that this is all happening during the first Iron Man film.**

Bobbi spent the next week moving in and out of the interrogation room and each time she was more pissed off than the last. It was like Hunter was purposefully tainting her with their past. Sure they were married once, but that was a long time ago and it was irrelevant, though she sensed that was why he kept bringing it up. So Bobbi found herself storming through the base, leaving a path of slightly scared people behind her. He wasn't going to talk, but Skye was having a nightmare chasing leads that were far too vague for them to even be considered valuable, at least not valuable enough to leave Bobbi in the perfect position to kill her ex-husband.

"I hear you're having trouble with a suspect." A voice spoke from next to Bobbi, apparently someone wasn't scared of her now.

"That's what I get for marrying a mercenary and deciding to divorce him six months later." Bobbi rolled her eyes, turning to see her favourite Russian talking to her. "Want to meet him?" She joked, quickly hugging Natasha.

"Not really." Natasha shrugged, pulling a knife out of her boot. "But I'm sure I could get him to talk."

"I'd hold off on that." Bobbi laughed, continuing to walk through the corridors. "Skye's close to finding some actual leads."

Natasha just nodded and headed back the way Bobbi came, probably going to interrogate Hunter anyway. Bobbi just shook her head and headed to Skye's room, only to find her in the exact same position she was in that morning.

"How's the intel?" Bobbi asked Skye, who had been typing away for the last few hours, surrounded by files, papers and images. Bobbi chuckled slightly, having not expected Skye to be good with computers as well. Although she couldn't think of a reason why she wouldn't be good at everything she tried her hand at, this was the girl who handed Bobbi her ass when they first met. Bobbi leant over Skye's chair, intrigued by the lines of random words and numbers moving up the screen.

"What he gave us was bare minimum, all codenames and dead ends." Skye huffed, clicking onto a different screen. It contained information on a very large, balding man. "His name is Obadiah Stane, works alongside Tony Stark at Stark Industries and has been one of many to file complaints against Mr Stark to remove him from the board of his own company. According to the files here, he is looking for the suit that Mr Stark used to escape Afghanistan a few days ago."

"But we're not after him; we're supposed to be looking for the people who held him captive." Bobbi spoke, apparently confused.

"That's my point." Skye explained, shifting slightly so she could look at Bobbi. "I think he paid off the terrorist group to capture Stark. I'm trying to find evidence but apparently someone else is already hacking the system." Skye explained, going back to her only slightly illegal work. "Shit." Skye sighed, typing slightly faster before giving up. "They've blocked out the files. Whoever was looking now has the only copy."

"I'll get this information to Coulson." Bobbi nodded, hesitating before she left. "What were you digging into?"

"The ghost server at Stark Industries." Skye shrugged and continued typing.

…

"Agent Coulson, we have a lead on the case you gave us concerning Mr Stark." Bobbi spoke formally. She had just pushed into a very important meeting between Coulson, Hand and Sitwell and she knew that he wouldn't be a big fan of being there; just as well that she had some information for him.

"If you would excuse me." Coulson smiled to the other agents before following Bobbi out of the room. "You, Agent Morse, are a godsend." He joked, opening the door to his office.

Bobbi quickly linked her tablet to the large screen in his office. "We've been struggling for information since we brought Hunter in but we think we found a link between the terrorist group and stark industries." She pulled up the file on Obadiah. "His name is Obadiah Stane and apparently has an axe to grind with Stark. We haven't been able to find any concrete evidence but we found a ghost server in Stark Industries' systems and from what we saw before the information was erased, he paid off the terrorist group to kidnap Stark."

"I'd better get pushing for that interview then." Coulson nodded, looking back over the other small pieces of information that they had found. One was particularly interesting. "Look into this Winter Soldier lead; I'll deal with Stark Industries."

"Sir, I think we're looking in the wrong places." Bobbi spoke, stopping Coulson before he picked up his phone. "Nobody has any information on how Stark got out or any proof as to why he was kidnapped in the first place. We know that he was taken after a demonstration of his Jericho missile, so maybe they wanted him to build it. But that still doesn't explain why his best friend had a hand in it, or why he would have him kidnapped when he has shown how easily he can remove Stark from the board."

"What do you suggest we do?" Coulson asked, his expression stern. "I haven't been successful with Stark Industries and you haven't had any luck with your leads. I can't get anything cleared without concrete evidence behind it."

…

"I swear I don't know anything else." Hunter yelled, panic filling him as a very angry red head edged closer to him, knife in hand.

"It's not about you knowing anything different." She spoke, her voice sultry. "It's about you withholding information, giving us the barest bones of intelligence. You know more, and if you want to be able to have sex again, you'll tell me."

"That's not how SHIELD operates." He gulped, sure that he would be able to call her bluff.

"No it's not, but they don't know I'm in here." She grinned, leaning closer in to Hunter. "Have you ever wondered what it's like to be interrogated by a Russian? Because I could show you." When he didn't respond she brought the knife to his stomach, lightly dragging the tip further down.

"It's a bloody video file in a language that my contacts couldn't translate." He squealed, his heart rate slowing when the red head finally moved away from him.

"Where's the file?"

"On an sd card taped to the inside of my phone. Remove the back, it's taped underneath the battery." He panted.

"It better be." She winked, before leaving the room.

…

"Hey there Skye." Natasha smiled, walking into the office Skye was using. She was still typing away, attempting to retrieve the files that went missing.

"Nat!" Skye exclaimed, excited to see her. She rushed over and pulled the older woman into a hug.

"I have something you might want to see." She smiled, handing the sd card over to the analyst.

"You are a miracle worker!" Skye exclaimed, plugging in the sd card and decrypting the file. "This is exactly what I've been looking for, how did you get it?"

"Let's just say I went back to my roots." Natasha grinned, leaning against the table.

"I need to get this to Bobbi." Skye spoke, falling back into 'agent mode'. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Marion." Natasha grinned, watching as Skye sped from the room.

On her race to find Bobbi, she was handed a file by one of the junior analysts detailing the men they had seen in the video. They didn't have much time

…

"We have a problem." Skye announced, rushing into Coulson's office. "Stane isn't the only guy we need to worry about. A small group of men just flew into the country with a lot of metal work claiming they were commissioned for Stark Industries."

"And let me guess," Bobbi rolled her eyes. "Stane signed their papers."

"The one and only." Skye nodded, sending the information to the large screen on Coulson's office. "We need to send a team to the company offices and Mr Stark's home. He could be in a lot more trouble than a few media hags."

"I have a meeting with Miss Potts so I'll take a team over there." Coulson's nodded, looking over at Bobbi. "Take your team to Stark's home and apprehend anyone who tries to stop you."

...

Skye drove on her motorbike, following along behind the large blacked out van that contained the rest of the team. She was to call out suspects and tail them if the van couldn't pursue. It wasn't the first time she's done a similar assignment, having been part of a protection detail while she was training.

That was when she noticed them, in small silver car, a man in the passenger seat yelling at the driver' presumably about the bad traffic.

"I have eyes on the suspects, going to pursue." Skye spoke, pulling down the visor on her helmet and maneuvering to a better place to follow the car.

She looked around her, checking to see if they had a similar protection detail. There they were, two off roaders, with heavily armed men in the back.

"You've got two on your tail, keep them off mine." Skye informed the others, suddenly noticing just how heavy her now was, although it wasn't that heavy.

"You've got it Barton." Mack's voice came over the coms.

"Go dark. Only radio in if you're desperate. We don't want them knowing you work with us." Bobbi ordered, her voice almost giving away how worried she was.

"Going dark." Skye shut off her ear piece and tried to blend in with the rest of the traffic while her team was risking their lives by becoming bait.

Gunfire sounded a few minutes after Skye cut communications and the two pursuers sped up, following her team's van. Skye tried to ignore the loud crashing sound a few minutes later, and jumped when a second closely followed. She just continued to follow the silver car, which had started taking a different, faster route.

"Why couldn't my job be easy?" Skye muttered, speeding up to keep her eyes on the target.

When she saw the car slow to a stop outside of Stark's mansion, Skye followed suit, parking outside of the large gate and swiftly climbing over the wall.

In the time it took her to get inside, the person she was following had ripped something from Stark's chest and barely made it out of the building before Skye put an arrow through his chest, quickly doing the same to his driver, and took the glowing device from him.

"Mr Stark, I'm here to help." Skye smiled at the man. He looked like he was on the brink of death. "Can you tell me what this is?"

"Arc reactor." He wheezed, staring intently at it. "Plug it in."

"In this metal tube?" Skye checked, seeing where it needed to go once she got closer. Stark just nodded and she moved swiftly, clicking the long cable into place.

Stark gasped, clutching his chest before his breathing returned to normal.

"What exactly did that just do?" Skye asked as he man's breathing returned to normal.

"It stops shrapnel from tearing through my arteries and into my heart." He shrugged, stumbling to his feet. "Who are you?"

"My name is Agent Skye Barton. I work with SHIELD, the people you've been avoiding for the last week." Skye rolled her eyes, grabbing onto the man to stop him from falling over.

"I'm going to need you help me downstairs." Stark announced before slowly moving down to where he had his suit waiting.

"I don't think we need to ask how you broke out of a heavily guarded camp anymore." Skye commented.

"You need to get to the Stark Industries tech development lab, Stane's planning something."

"We're aware, a team is there now." Skye nodded, surprised at the self proclaimed genius' momentary idiocy. "Good luck Mr Stark." Skye smiled as the billionaire flew out through a hole in the roof.

Skye took the moment to breathe before heading back out, she had a potentially dead team to look for.

 **AN- So its been ages since I last updated but I've finally finished coursework and gotten my laptop fixed so I should be able to start updating more. I've changed the direction of the story quite a bit. I originally wanted to keep it as cannon as possible but I've changed my mind and will be changing quite a lot. It's also going to take forever to get to the AOS timeline so I won't be writing about each of the Marvel films as separate chapters, I'll probably just condense it all into one or two of them with some nice Skye/Bobbi scenes in between.**

 **Let me know what you think and please follow if you would like to see more.**

 **Amyx**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN- We are jumping back in time a little for the beginning of this chapter so that we can see what happened to Bobbi and the team. Like I said earlier there won't be too much about the rest of the Marvel films so we can see more MorseCode and Barton sibling moments.**

 **[EDIT] There was a slight issue with the formatting of this chapter (meaning it turned into a giant wall of text when I uploaded it) and I've managed to fix it.**

Bobbi's heart rate spiked as Skye's coms went dead. She was regretting putting Skye in such a dangerous position so soon after she started getting better, she didn't want to break her again. "That's enough Barbara, why do you care so much anyway?" She muttered harshly to herself, quiet enough that nobody could hear her. She turned her focus back to driving, making them as obvious as possible to attract the attention of the two off roaders that were tailing them. Almost instantly she'd grabbed their attention and started speeding up, trying to get Skye out of their radar as quickly as possible.

Mack and Izzy started firing at their pursuers while Bobbi led them to a relatively quiet stretch of road. After a few minutes their attackers were on either side of them, firing dozens of bullets into their van every second. Bobbi and Sharon began firing at the tyres, hoping to stop their cars altogether. With one well aimed shot the car on Bobbi's side span out and skidded down the road before hitting a fire hydrant and flipping over. With a second bullet, aimed right at the gas tank, Bobbi blew up the vehicle, turning her attention back to the road. She had been too distracted however, as the second car slammed into the front of them, stopping them in their tracks.

Both vehicles were on fire and Bobbi's team piled out of the van, a multitude of injuries screaming at each of them. With a few more shots, the rest of their attackers were dead. Or so they thought as one struggling survivor threw a grenade in their direction, it exploding right under the van's gas tank.

The team was thrown off of their feet, landing on the solid asphalt of the road. "Requesting a med team and evac." Bobbi choked through the coms to Victoria Hand, who was running the back end from the Triskelion. "Four of our team is down. Send backup to Stark Manor, we don't know what Agent Barton will be expecting." Bobbi started blacking out, and couldn't hear what Agent Hand was saying to her, she only felt an overpowering need to close her eyes and sleep.

…

Skye held tightly to Bobbi's hand as the older woman lay unconscious in a hospital bed. Machined beeped and whined, telling Skye that her partner was alive, but until Bobbi opened her eyes, Skye wasn't going to believe it.

"How's she holding up?" A gentle voice spoke from behind Skye, the speaker's hand resting on Skye's shoulder.

"She had a lot of damage to her left shoulder and her abdomen. The doctors managed to fix it but they don't know when she'll wake up." Skye spoke, trying her hardest to stop her voice from catching in her throat. She turned her gaze from Bobbi to look at her brother. "All I can think about is this was what Theo looked like. When they sent him back in a body bag. He was so damaged and broken, and his eyes were glued shut."

"It's hard to make the image go away." Clint nodded, tears pricking at his eyes as he remembered the day they found Noah's body. "You've been sat here for days, come back home, grab a shower and then come back. I'll leave Natasha to sit with her while you're gone."

"This was what you looked like too." Skye whispered, her gaze returning to Bobbi, as her chest rose and fell in time to the beeping monitors.

"And I'm perfectly fine." Clint commented, a slight frown drawing across his features. "Come on Marion, you can't stay sat here forever." Clint encouraged, pulling Skye to her feet.

Skye's hand slid out of Bobbi's, her attention fixed on how cold it now felt.

She followed her brother out of the Triskelion, climbing into the car next to him. When they got home they were welcomed by a large bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine, accompanied by a card from Mr Tony Stark, thanking her for retrieving his arc reactor. Skye laughed a little at the blunt edge the note contained, it was as if someone had told him to send it to her.

"Got a new boyfriend, Marion?" Clint teased, plucking the card from her fingers. "'You're welcome to break into my home and kill people any time'. How romantic."

Skye rolled her eyes, moving the flowers onto a table pressed against the far wall and moving to open the wine. She grabbed two glasses and poured a generous amount into each, handing one to her brother. "His PA has great taste though, 2008 Haut Brion Pessac-Leognan Imperial."

"Very pricey taste, almost ten thousand dollars of wine in such a small bottle." Clint nodded, picking up his own glass and taking a sip. "A good beer is still better though."

Skye rolled her eyes again, moving to the refrigerator to see what she could make for dinner. "How do you feel about soup?" She asked Clint, beginning to gather the ingredients she needed.

"Comfort food?" Clint asked, already knowing the answer. He'd made many _many_ pans of soup over the years for Skye.

"What else?" Skye joked, beginning to chop the variety of vegetables she had collected, Clint quickly moving to help her.

This was how Maria found Clint and Skye when she arrived home, cooking together and sharing the odd joke before their faces dropped into a somber expression. She didn't press, there was no need. She'd read the reports and seen Skye sat with Bobbi several times; it was obvious why she was upset. She just walked into the kitchen, washed her hands and began chopping a baguette to quickly bake in the oven. The three moved around each other like clockwork, one switching over to the other to add something to their work or to pick up the butter dish or pepper pot they had taken seconds earlier.

They ate in silence, only speaking in meaningless small talk, both Maria and Clint painfully aware of how sensitive Skye was.

"I was getting better you know." Skye suddenly commented, pouring herself a second glass of wine. "She was pulling me out of my shell quicker that I'd thought she would and now she's lying unconscious in a hospital bed."

"You can't blame yourself Skye, we all know that if you did anything differently Stark would be dead and you might be too." Maria tried to comfort Skye, knowing that at best the other woman would ignore her reassurances completely.

"I'd trade Stark for Bobbi. He's a playboy with way too much money and Bobbi is struggling to pull enough money together to buy a tiny house in rural Tennessee." Skye shook her head, almost getting angry with Stark. "I just need her to be okay." Skye huffed staring off into the distance.

"What happened in Mexico?" Clint asked, directing his gaze at Skye. "What happened between you and Bobbi?"

"For the first week some of the guys were desperately trying to get us into bed with them so Bobbi and I made a plan that we would be dating, to get them off of our backs." Skye muttered, taking a long deep sip from her wine. "It worked perfectly, but only because we made a big show of it all the time. Having them catch us kissing in random places around the hideout, outrageously flirting with each other every time one of them looked at us for too long."

"I think I know the perfect person for you to talk to." Clint announced, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Hey, do whatever you can to get your old SO to come to my apartment for a drink, Skye could do with a long talk with her." After a few seconds, Clint hung up and directed is attention back to the confused pair of women.

"I'm going to turn in; I've got a long day of meetings ahead of me." Maria resigned, quickly figuring out exactly whose aid Clint had asked for.

"Night Maria." Skye halfheartedly smiled, not quite looking at the woman.

"Nat's bringing an old friend of ours over, she'll be good for you to talk to." Clint patted Skye's shoulder before heading over to the kitchen and gathering a selection of fruit. He quickly chopped it and mixed the assortment in a large glass bowl. He cut a lemon in half and squeezed it across the fruit. "Do you remember when I first did that with you?" Clint smiled.

Skye thought back to that day, it being one of the first days she'd stayed with Clint.

…

Skye was slowly cutting up the apples Clint had handed to her, trying her hardest to make each piece even. They'd been cutting fruit in silence for the last few minutes, enjoying the sounds of the knife cutting through the fruit and onto the cutting board. Even Theo was helping, although he had a plastic knife and several bananas that he was cutting into odd shapes and sizes. Once they had finished cutting the fruit, they piled it all into a large glass bowl, Clint allowing Skye to mix the fruit together. Before she could move it to the table, Clint grabbed a lemon, cut it in half and squeezed it across the fruit, coating it in lemon juice.

"What was that for?" Skye asked, her voice sliding back into a childish whine, even though she was in her teens by then. "You're not trying to ruin it are you?"

Theo giggled at Skye as he retrieved several forks and bowls and began arranging them on the table. "Mom and dad used to do that all the time." He shrugged, enthusiastically bouncing over to the sink to wash his hands.

"They put the lemon juice on the fruit to stop it from spoiling." Clint explained patiently, placing the fruit salad and a large spoon on the table. "Look at the apple cores." He pointed to the discarded cores that sat on Skye's cutting board, the flesh of the core turning an orangey-brown. "The lemon juice stops the fruit from going bad too quickly, so that when you're done eating, you can put the leftover fruit in the refrigerator instead of throwing it out."

"Oh." Skye muttered, tilting her head to the side slightly as she threw away the discarded fruit and placed the cutting board and knife in the sink. "But doesn't it make the fruit taste sour?"

"Not really." Clint shrugged. "It actually makes it taste a little sweeter."

…

"I remember that we discovered that I'm allergic to pineapple." Skye joked, thinking back to when their lives were simple. Or at least hers was, Clint would have been working for SHIELD by then.

"And I told you that something sour makes the fruit taste sweeter." Clint grinned.

"So is fruit salad your new favourite metaphor? A life lesson wrapped up in an old glass bowl." Skye joked, sipping more of her wine.

"No." Clint shook his head, laughing slightly. "I just couldn't be bothered making anything else for dessert."

A knock at the door pulled Skye and Clint out of their reminiscing, Clint moving to see who was at the door. Natasha grinned up at Clint, stepping into the apartment while an older Asian woman hovered in the doorway, exchanging a hushed conversation with Clint.

"I hope you're up for drinking something stronger than that." Natasha commented to Skye as she sat down, producing a large bottle of vodka.

"I certainly am." The Asian woman spoke, following Clint over to the table. "My name's Melinda May, your brother thinks that you need someone to talk to."

"She does." Clint reprimanded jokingly, still earning him a glare from Melinda and an elbow to the ribs from Natasha.

Skye thought for a few seconds, wondering if she could open up to a complete stranger. She looked cold and hard at first glance, like she would be the type to remove a bullet from her own chest, not the one to let her wounds bleed all over the place as she opened them up again and again. But underneath her hard glare, she looked genuinely kind, like she wouldn't dismiss anything Skye entrusted to her, and wouldn't divulge it to her brother or Natasha if she asked.

"I'm Skye." She smiled. Extending her hand for the woman to shake.

…

Bobbi began to stir, waking from a very long, very pleasant dream. She still remembered the feel of Skye's lips against hers, the way that their bodies fit together perfectly. She didn't want to wake up; she was enjoying memories of Skye's smooth skin against her rough hands far too much. And so she stayed tightly wrapped in the memory of their last night in Mexico. Clothes strewn across a dirty wooden floor, their bodies held tightly together beneath the thin sheets. It was still euphoric, even if she was just remembering. It was perfect.

And then she opened her eyes.

 **AN- Cooking with Clint, has anyone written that fanfic yet because I might have to. Here we have introduced another AOS character. We're only a few chapters from the opening of AOS so hold onto your hats. And we're finally getting some MorseCode!**

 **Please let me know what you think about this chapter and follow if you want to read more.**

 **Amyx**


	8. Chapter 8

Skye rushed to the Triskelion, almost overly eager to see Bobbi. Her talk with Melinda had been exactly what Skye needed, completely pulling her out of her shell. She wasn't scared any more; although that meant that she was overly confident once again. The agents at the front desk barely noticed Skye rushing through the doors ant tearing through the building to the med bay. When she reached the right floor, she was hit with the sound of Bobbi's laughter, something she hadn't realized that she was dying to hear.

She slowed to a walk, peering into the room that held her partner. Izzy, Mack and Sharon were stood around her bed, all laughing at something Izzy had said. Or at least Skye assumed Izzy had said it as she was laughing the hardest.

"You're finally awake." Skye grinned, walking cautiously into the room. While she wanted to pull Bobbi into a bone crushing hug and tell her everything she thought about their interactions in Mexico, she wasn't sure if she should do it in front of the rest of the team.

"I hear you had to be dragged from my side." Bobbi smiled, her grin almost too bright to Skye.

"Yep." She nodded, feeling her brain slosh around in her head. She was definitely still feeling the effects of drinking with Melinda, Natasha and Clint. She could hold her liquor better than most, but she couldn't compete with a Russian and a woman who had probably been taught how to drink at the academy, or at least that's what Clint joked somewhere around his third shot. He was definitely not good at holding his liquor.

"The three of us have a mission so we'll see you when we get back." Mack announced, the two standing from their chairs.

"I'm glad you're awake." Sharon whispered, tightly hugging Bobbi.

The three left the room after saying goodbye, leaving Skye and Bobbi alone.

Skye sat in the chair closest to Bobbi, trying her hardest to resist holding her hand.

"I had a very strange dream while I was out." Bobbi started, the mood in the room suddenly very serious. "About Mexico."

"Oh." Skye questioned, not trusting that she'd say the right thing.

"About the night before we left." Bobbi spoke, her voice low and her gaze everywhere but in Skye's direction, as if she was too scared to look. "I know we didn't talk about it but…"

"But you regret it and want us to stop working together." Skye spoke somberly, her mood suddenly dropping and her gaze hitting the floor.

"No." Bobbi shook her head. "Unless you…"

"No." Skye looked up, locking eyes with Bobbi. "I actually had a long talk with Agent May, from Administrations."

"You also had a couple of drinks with her from the look of it." Bobbi noted, wishing the jealous tone in her voice would have gone unnoticed.

"We talked about Mexico." Skye spoke, keeping her voice even. "About everything. Everyone I shot, everyone I beat and kidnapped." Skye took a deep breath. "And about every time we kissed."

"Oh." Bobbi spoke, intrigued. Noting how alike it was to Skye's earlier utterance.

"I don't think I'm very good at my job. Keeping things compartmentalized." Skye shrugged, wishing she could take back her poorly phrased words. "I could've compromised the mission by doing something that I wanted to do, instead of what I needed to."

"I think I understand what you mean." Bobbi nodded, her eyes locking with Skye's. "And I feel exactly the same way."

Skye's expression was quickly pulled into a grin, the first real one she'd had in a long time. "When they let you out of here I'm cooking us dinner."

Bobbi's grin matched Skye's. "I can't wait."

…

Their date had been pushed back, due to various missions, and Bobbi's entrapment in the med bay for three weeks. When she was finally released, she was put on bed rest, under strict orders to not leave her apartment for at least ten days. While they were annoyed by this, Skye spent every spare moment she could keeping Bobbi company and bringing her plenty of soup and fruit salad, having amused Bobbi with the storied behind the offerings. But when Bobbi had finally been allowed to move around again, she was placed on a four month deep cover mission, much to Skye's irritation. It wasn't the four months that Skye was bothered about, it was the no communication. So she was bothered by the four months. She spent the next four months diving into as many missions as she could get her hands on, most of them involving stealing one piece of information or another. Skye quickly climbed through SHIELD's ranks, making level eight, much to the other agents' protests. It wasn't the four months that Skye was bothered about, it was the no communication. So she was bothered by the four months.

But after Bobbi's mission drew to a close, a complete success, Skye began planning for their date.

…

Skye had spent what she thought was far too long cooking dinner for Bobbi. Her brother had offered to help, but his help was short lived as Skye chased him away after far too many suggestive comments from him. She'd boiled potatoes, steamed an assortment of vegetables and cooked, to what she believed to be perfection, two chicken breasts, which were the topic of most of Clint's innuendos. She'd also used the last of the wine she had received from Stark in a thick gravy, which she was very proud to have produced.

Maria, however, had been very helpful, setting the table in as understated a way as possible. She'd removed the candles that Clint kept dotting around the table, and placed two of their nice wine glasses either side of a bowl of salad she had prepared. Skye had insisted that cotton napkins was far too much and would make it look like she had spent the entire afternoon cooking. "You have spent the afternoon cooking." Maria had pointed out and Skye allowed her to place the cutlery on top of a neatly folded cream napkin.

As Skye pulled the chicken out of the oven, she heard Clint open the door and begin making small talk with Bobbi.

"Let's just be glad I made you get dressed before you started cooking." Maria smiled, untying the apron from Skye's waist and neatly placing it into a drawer. She grabbed the bottle of wine Skye had selected and left the kitchen with it, leaving Skye to finish the food.

As Skye plated the food, she took the opportunity to look into the rest of the open plan apartment to see that Maria had successfully rescued Bobbi from a potentially very awkward conversation with Clint and had placed the wine on the table.

"Everything's perfect, you shouldn't be shaking right now." Skye muttered, as she picked up the two plates and gravy and carried them to the table, taking care not to drop them given how much she was shaking.

Before interrupting Bobbi and Maria, she took the opportunity to drink in the tall blonde's appearance. She was wearing a tight black pencil skirt that stretched to her mid thigh, perfectly on the edge of classy and casual. She also had a long sleeved high neck crop top on, blood red and lined with lace that covered the small patch of skin between the fabric of the shirt and the top of her skirt. Her heels also matched, making her far too tall for Skye's liking. Skye laughed to herself, noting her own tight black dress and blood red heels.

"Hi." Skye beamed, finishing her walk to the pair.

"Hi." Bobbi smiled also, both of them trying to act casual to hide their nerves.

"I'll leave you two, and make sure your brother doesn't interrupt." Maria spoke, flashing Skye a reassuring smile as she left the room.

Skye led Bobbi to the table, pulling out her chair, and tucking it in as she sat down. She immediately wished she hadn't, having wanted the date to be as low key as possible.

"You really went all out didn't you?" Bobbi commented, taking in the setting in front of them.

"Maria helped with a lot of it." Skye smiled, glad that she could shovel some of the credit on someone else before she got embarrassed. "And Clint, well.. he tried and extravagantly failed."

"Do tell." Bobbi smiled.

"He enjoyed making jokes about how I was enjoying marinating the chicken as, and I quote him on his, 'It's the closest you've gotten to breasts in a long time, isn't it?'" Skye rolled her eyes as Bobbi erupted into a fit of laughter, clutching tightly to her chest. "It's not that funny." Skye muttered, as Bobbi's laughter slowed.

Bobbi shook her head. "It really is. It's better than that time you were baking peanut butter cookies and he asked if…"

"Let's not revisit that one either." Skye pleaded, blushing.

…

The date was perfect, they actually sustained a conversation throughout the meal without having to put in any effort at all, and Clint hadn't come down singing one of the various songs he had been singing since the day Bobbi woke up. They had ended up cuddled on the sofa, drinking most of the bottle of wine, reminiscing about the missions they had been on and the many times that Clint had managed to embarrass Skye, causing her to blush almost constantly. Their date had been cut short when Skye received a call from Coulson, asking for Clint as well. Something about a mission in Budapest.

Over the next two years, Skye worked closely with Coulson, leading Bobbi, Natasha and Clint on many missions, she'd even spent a few months overseeing the TAHITI project before she and Coulson shut the programme down. Although none of them knew yet that she was level eight, it was only when she was promoted to level nine that she decided to tell them the truth. Fury had pulled a lot of strings and made a lot of people angry, but after Skye single handedly stopped an assassination attempt on the world council the protests stopped and the increase in clearance granted.

"Huh, my baby sister is my boss." Clint had commented, almost disbelievingly. "You were a higher level than me when you picked us up in Russia, weren't you?" He asked, thinking back to his anger that his sister was in the field.

"Not only that but she saved the asses of some of the most important people on the planet." Maria gushed, a grin of pride on her face.

"I'm amazed Fury still lets you on missions." Natasha rolled her eyes, pouring vodka shots for the group. "He stopped Maria when she hit level eight."

"Most of SHIELD doesn't know I'm such a high level so it would look suspicious if I never went on a mission again." Skye shrugged, downing her shot in one swift movement. "But it's not like it would change anything, you'll still be giving me orders on missions."

"It wouldn't be the same." Clint shook his head, turning up his nose in mock disgust.

"It would be exactly the same." Maria shook her head. "She's always been able to ignore your orders."

"Ignorance is bliss." Clint pushed, downing a shot and immediately drinking another.

"And so is sobriety." Skye joked, throwing her brother a bottle of water which he caught without looking at it.

The room burst into a fit of laughter, until a knock on the door drew their attention. Skye got up to answer it, being the least drunk person in the room.

"Having a party without me Barton?" Fury asked, stood at the door with a file in his hand.

"I assume this isn't a friendly visit." Skye asked, moving aside to allow him into the room.

Fury moved closer to the group, leaving Skye to close the door and follow behind. "There's been a development with one of our undercover assignments, a pretty bad one."

Skye's heart sank, Bobbi was undercover in Japan.

"I need Romanoff to get closer and assess the situation." He informed her, handing over the file. "You leave in two hours."

"Please say you have a job for me too?" Clint begged, having barely been on missions since he ended his therapy.

"Only if you finally take the offer at the academy." Fury shrugged. "Wouldn't be field work but it would be better than you sitting around for weeks between missions moping about how much you miss shooting people."

"That wouldn't be an assignment. That would be living hell." Clint joked, taking another drink.

"Well, I'm going to head out." Natasha announced, dropping her glass on the table and pushing herself off of the sofa. "Wouldn't want to leave anyone waiting."

Fury nodded to Natasha as she left the apartment, and instead of following her like they had assumed, he turned to Skye. "I'm going to need your help with something. It's called the Avengers initiative. I want you to do as much work behind the scenes to get it off of the ground. It was shut down a few months ago, find a way to get it back up and running."

He'd peaked Skye's interest. "Where do you want me to start?"

 **AN- So here's the next chapter. I did skip over quite a lot but we will be going 'back in time' every now and then. But I hope you liked this chapter. Please leave a review telling me what you think and follow if you'd like to read more.**

 **Amyx**


	9. Chapter 9

"How are you captain?" Skye asked the shaken man, sitting down next to him. "I won't pretend to understand what you're going through, but I'm a good listener."

"Do you know what happened to me?" He asked, running a hand through his hair. "The last thing I remember was saying goodbye to Peggy, and then I wake up in this hospital listening to a baseball game that I watched."

"When you were speaking with Agent Carter, you crashed the Valkyrie into the Atlantic Ocean and it slipped under an ice cap." Skye began, speaking slightly hesitantly. "You were frozen for almost seventy years before we found the Valkyrie, and even that was by accident. We didn't find out you were alive before we began melting the ice around you."

"Where is she?" Steve asked, looking Skye in the eye. "Peggy?"

"She's in a nursing home." Skye spoke, before delivering the bad news. "She's suffering from dementia, has trouble remembering things."

"Does he remember me?" He asked, his heart breaking.

"Yes, she asks for you a lot. Wonders whether we've found you yet." Skye nodded, easing some of Steve's pain. "Her niece visits a lot. I worked with her, she's a good person."

"What happened to everyone else? Howard, Gabe, where are they?" Steve asked, wanting to take his mind off of Peggy.

"Howard married a lovely woman, had a son even. They died in a plane crash about ten years ago." Skye frowned, wishing she wasn't the bearer of bad news. "Gabe married Peggy, they had kids. He died a few years ago as well."

"So everyone I know is dead?" He asked, holding his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry." Skye frowned, not knowing how to comfort the man.

"No need to apologize." Steve shook his head. "You didn't kill them."

"I'm still sorry." Skye frowned, about to speak when her phone beeped. 'More people for you to assess, come immediately.' "I have to go but I'll see if I can contact Peggy's niece or one of her grandchildren, it might be nice to hear about your friends."

"Thank you." Steve smiled, before looking back down at his hands.

…

After a week of talking with Steve, she thought he might be ready to see SHIELD, though Fury didn't share the same confidence. He agreed, though reluctantly, and arranged to show him around, assigning the Strike team as security, still worried about the golden hearted super hero.

"Good Morning Steve." Skye smiled, walking into his room with a plate of food. "Eat up because I have something to show you."

He ate quickly, soon following Skye out of the room.

"Sorry about the guards, there are some pretty paranoid people." Skye explained as the four guards walked around them.

"Where is this?" Steve asked, noticing the varying people walking around. Some in uniforms, some in suits, and others carrying very large and sophisticated weapons.

"This is what Peggy Carter and Howard Stark built after you won the war." Skye smiled, noticing a proud glint in Steve's eye. "It's called SHIELD, Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division. They built it to protect people from groups like Hydra."

"This was them?" Steve asked, amazed. "Although I shouldn't be surprised, Peggy always cared about people."

"So did you." Skye smiled, hoping that she'd set up the bait perfectly. She knew that he would want to help people, and if he agreed to join the Avengers initiative, then he would be able to do that good. Plus she wanted to actually recruit someone.

"Skye, how would I be able to help you?" Steve asked, turning suddenly. "I want to continue my friends' legacy."

"I think I have a way for you to do that." Skye smiled.

"Agent Barton, Director Fury would like to see you." A low level agent approached her, carrying a file in her hand. "You should read this before you see him."

…

"This is bullshit." Skye yelled, walking into Fury's office. She'd just finished re-evaluating the Avengers Initiative and she'd been pulled out, by Fury. "You put me on this assignment, and now you're shutting me out of it. I'm one of the few people on this planet that you actually trust, so why hand it over to Sitwell."

"Secure office." Fury spoke, not even looking up from his paperwork.

"Care to tell me why?" Skye demanded, taking a few steps closer to Fury's desk.

"I have a different assignment that will mean, for all intents and purposes, removing you from SHIELD." Fury informed her, standing up. "There is something going on and I need you to figure out what it is. And to do that you need to join a group of hacktivists that want nothing more than to destroy SHIELD and everything it stands for."

"Don't hate on them too much, I almost joined one." Skye rolled her eyes, still fuming. "Send in one of the espionage agents, Romanoff could get what you want in a heartbeat."

"I need someone who is used to lying about their very existence, which is something you do daily in this building." Fury started, moving to stand in front of Skye. "And I need someone who can hack as well as our lead analysts. Walking in and punching a few people won't work this time."

"What do you need me to do?" Skye asked, huffing in defeat.

"I need you to dig up everything you can about this list of people." Fury informed Skye, handing over a very large stack of paper. "And I need you to do it by joining the Rising Tide."

"You're kidding me." Skye laughed. "The last time I spoke with anyone from the rising tide I was fighting off four of their cronies because I dumped one of them."

"I am well aware of that, and I will need you to reach out to him." Fury conceded, not looking up at Skye. "I've buried your files as deep as I can and removed any evidence of your existence from every system I could find. You're going in as a ghost who was approached by a group of men in dark suits who wanted to exploit you to cover up the truth about what's happening in the world."

"You aren't asking me to do this, are you?" Skye asked, her anger gone. "How long will it take?"

"A year, at least." Fury informed Skye, making eye contact with the now shaken agent. "You will need to work your way high enough through their ranks that they trust you enough to leave the SHIELD hacking to you. And from there it will be finding out exactly what is going on in my agency."

"You think there's a mole." Skye spoke, thinking out loud more than asking him his opinion.

"I think there is a whole other organization working in the background to bring down SHIELD." Fury corrected, shocking Skye even more.

"That's impossible." Skye shook her head, not wanting to believe Fury.

"I'm hoping that I'm just a paranoid old man, which is why I want you to look for everything you can find." Fury informed Skye, handing her a second folder. "This is everything you need to get started, keep communication to a minimum."

"Can I say goodbye to my brother?" Skye asked, having noticed the part in the folder that said she was starting immediately.

"Make it quiet, and as quick as possible." Fury nodded, taking a seat behind his desk. "Don't tell anyone about your assignment, not even your girlfriend."

"Can I tell them anything?" Skye pleaded, tears gathering in her eyes.

"No."

…

"I don't like being kept in the dark about these things." Clint complained, sat on Skye's bed as she packed a light bag. "I understand that we work for a spy organization, but you could at least tell me something."

"The only thing I can tell you is that you can't mention me to anyone." Skye frowned, rummaging through the bottom of her closet to find a missing shoe. "As far as the word is concerned I don't exist, and it has to stay that way."

"And there's another thing I don't like." He pointed out, reaching past Skye to procure the shoe she was looking for. "This is all against protocol. Not putting anything on file and pretty much erasing you from existence."

"I am about to join a bunch of hackers." Skye pointed out, throwing the shoe into her bag haphazardly. "And even though I have a very important and serious job to do, I'm going to keep searching while I'm there."

"Fury didn't let you see the unredacted file?" Clint asked, confused as to why Fury was keeping something from Skye.

"Quite the opposite." Skye rolled her eyes, beginning to pack some of her books. "He sealed it up tighter than he did with the TAHITI project."

"Ah, yes. The secret underground base that I'm not supposed to know anything about." Clint joked, lying back on Skye's bed. "Seems to me that he wants to keep everything about you secret."

"That's because he does." Skye shook her head, zipping up her bag.

"Are you going to visit Bobbi before you leave?" Clint asked, earning himself a dark look from Skye. Things hadn't ended well the last time Skye had seen Bobbi, they'd had a rather long, loud argument before Bobbi yelled some particularly hurtful things and left, throwing her ring in Skye's face.

"I don't know." Skye admitted, pulling her bag onto her shoulder. "I don't think she ever wants to see me again." She sighed, her hand reaching up to touch the ring that she now wore on a chain around her neck.

"You'd think proposing would have made her happy." Clint joked again, suddenly turning serious. He stood and walked over to Skye, placing a hand on each of her shoulders. "Say goodbye, you'll regret it if you don't."

"I'll miss having you around, Robin Hood." Skye smiled sadly, pulling her brother into a tight hug.

"I'll miss you too, Marion."

…

Skye took a deep breath before knocking on Bobbi's door, hoping that she wouldn't be met with anger.

"What are you doing here Skye?" Bobbi asked, a defeated tone in her voice.

"I came to say goodbye." Skye spoke tentatively. "Fury has me going undercover and I don't know how long it will take."

"Then why did you come here?" Bobbi asked, shifting her weight to one hip.

"I guess I didn't want the last thing I said to you to be angry." Skye shrugged, regretting knocking on the blonde woman's door.

"And now it won't be." Bobbi retorted snidely. "Anything else?"

"Just one question." Skye suddenly spoke, a rush of courage filling her. "What did I do that ruined things between us?"

"Other than shooting me when I tried to surprise you for our anniversary?" Bobbi asked, anger suddenly filling her voice. "You did a lot of things Skye, but it wasn't your fault that I ended things, that was my decision."

Skye nodded, holding back tears. "Goodbye Bobbi." She didn't stay around to hear what Bobbi said, she just left as quickly as she could.

…

"Fury you son of a bitch." Skye complained, watching her brother and best friend fight aliens on the news. It really got under her skin to know that Fury had shut it down for nothing, she'd only devoted months of her life to it.

"I'm guessing he's one of the guys who tried to kidnap you." Miles asked, taking a sip of his coffee. She'd told him that SHIELD was after her and that she wanted to get revenge, which he had luckily bought.

"I think I've found my next assignment, keep digging into the CIA, I need to get to New York." Skye grabbed her things, dropped ten dollars on the table and rushed out to her van, hoping that her brother would be alright when she got to New York. He had to be.

 **AN- So I did skip quite a lot of drama which I'm going to re hash later, but we're finally going to see Skye on the BUS, yay. Please let me know what you think and follow if you want to read more.**

 **Amyx**


	10. Chapter 10

Skye had been undercover for years before the avengers saved New York and true to her mission she kept everyone in the Rising Tide away from the mission reports, pretending to work exclusively to crack into them. She'd released dozens of videos by then, containing harmless information on SHIELDs movements.

She'd also kept tabs on Bobbi, trying not to get hurt when she found out Bobbi had a new boyfriend, or rather an old one as she had gotten back together with he ex-husband for a few months. And that had really stung. But she was expecting Bobbi to move on, it was inevitable.

What Skye wasn't expecting was to be found by Coulson's team and dragged into a cell, apparently because Mike Peterson was a bad person. But she knew him, he was a good guy.

"Who are you?" Coulson had asked, startling Skye. There was no recognition in his eyes, the familiar tenderness replaced with stoney venom.

So Skye waited and watched, wondering if it was a very good act, answering all of his questions using her cover, hoping he might crack for just a second so that she could know her father figure was still there.

But he wasn't. And May refused to give her answers, apparently doing the same as Coulson, pretending her cover was the only person that existed. But Skye knew that May recognised her, it was in her eyes when she first saw Skye on the bus. Apparently Fury wasn't done with her Rising Tide cover yet.

So Skye waited and watched, observing the mismatched team during their next mission, which resulted in Skye almost blowing her cover and saving their asses, but luckily nobody noticed. Nobody but Agent May.

"I don't like that you broke my plane." Fury reprimanded, stood by one of the broken windows with Agent Coulson. "Three days. It took you three days to break my plane."

"My team made a call to recover an 084 whole our plane was boarded." Coulson shrugged, staring down the man. "And I stand by that judgement."

Fury stared at Coulson for a moment. Wondering if it was with the argument. He'd read the reports and it was their consultant who'd suggested they break a hole in the plane.

Skye stood in a shadowed corner, watching their exchange. Was it the right time to ask director fury about what she was there? Why he'd had Coulson pull her out of her mission without even knowing who she was?

"I want to meet this consultant of yours." Fury announced, leaving no room for argument. He glanced around the room and spotted Skye in her hiding place, masking his shock expertly. But not well enough to hide it from Skye.

"I'll send her up to my office." Coulson nodded, heading down to the lab.

He walked right past Skye, not even noticing she was there. And not noticing that agent may was listening as well.

Skye waited until she heard him enter the lab and made her way over to director fury, anger plain on her face.

"Why did you pull me out?" Skye demanded, trying to keep her voice down as well as she could. "I was so close to finding the information and you sent Coulson to extract me."

"I didn't know you were here." Fury confessed. "You've been off the grid for weeks, I was preparing a team to look for you."

"Why doesn't he recognise me?" Skye asked quieter, making sure none of the agents could hear. "He looks at me like I'm a ghost he recognises but can't remember."

Fury took a deep breath an sighed. "Coulson died before the battle of New York."

"I know, Clint blamed himself for weeks." Skye interrupted. Remembering having to pull a gun from her brothers hands. "The report said he died for a few seconds, so why tell the avengers that he died?"

"Because he did die." Fury whispered harshly. "He was dead for days."

"TAHITI?" Skye fumed. "You know why we shut that down, why risk it?"

"Because Coulson is too good to lose." Fury confessed. "I put May on the plane to watch him. This entire team was put together to make sure that he wouldn't become another failed case."

"What do you want me to do?" Skye asked, not liking Fury's discussion. "I could fix my cover in a few days, they're already contacted me."

"Stay on the plane. You know what to look for better than most." Fury nodded, beginning to regret his decision. "Keep looking for what I asked and keep your cover intact. If I'm right being here will be a lot safer than in your van."

"Okay." Skye smiled, trying her best to hide her unease. "But the second Coulson finds out you are releasing my files and letting me be an agent again. And I'm calling Clint the second you leave, three years away from my family is hell."

"Done." Fury nodded, stopping their conversation when Coulson walked back in.

"I see you met Skye." Coulson smiled, walking back over to them.

"The Pirate's pretty cool." Skye joked, knowing he hated the name.

"Don't call me pirate." Fury warned, leaving the plane.

"You made a good impression." Coulson smiled, impressed.

"Did I?" Skye asked, laughing slightly.

"He didn't demand you leave. So yes, yes you did." Coulson smiled, walking back up to his office.

May walked over to Skye, not surprising the senior agent. "I know the feeling." She frowned, attempting to comfort her. "He doesn't remember our baby girl." Mays voice cracked as she spoke.

"Tell me about her." Skye asked, looking in the direction of the cockpit.

They walked up together, avoiding their team as well as they could. The second the door was closed, May's mask was gone. Skye had only seen her like this once, when she was recovering from Mexico.

"It was before I left field work." May started, remembering her missing baby.

...

May had married Coulson three years before the incident. They'd been happy, even Fury had smiled when he's found out and proceeded to hide it from the rest of the organisation.

They'd gone to the Hunan province for May's grandmother to meet Lily. The woman had been ill for months and they weren't sure how much time they had left. They'd been in the hotel for less than a day when a note had been left in their room.

'You shouldn't have come back. This is my territory. I will destroy everything you love. I will destroy you.'

May and Coulson had panicked when they read the note and had fury put a security detail around the hotel, hoping to keep the new-born safe.

That night May had woken when she heard Lily crying, but this time it was different. Her cry was full of pain. May rushed into the room to see a flash of blue light and an empty crib.

"Phil." May screamed, falling to the floor. She let out a strangled cry as Phil rushed to her side, pulling her into his arms. "No. No. No." She yelled, her heart feeling as if it were tearing apart.

They'd spent the next month searching for her, only to find a village destroyed and the shredded body of a woman, fitting the way their attacker worked.

Months turned into years and they found nothing about their baby, Fury eventually sending them on a mission to Bahrain, which broke May and pulled her from field work.

...

She'd never told Phil what had happened, but somehow found the courage to tell Skye.

"There was a girl in the building." May choked, finding it hard to tell. "She was powered and fed off of other people's pain. I had to make a call, her or the people in the building and I chose the other people."

"Mel." Skye whispered.

"I shot her in the chest before the Strike team got in and I never told a soul what happened." May spoke, tears streaming down her face. "Fury doesn't even know, he just let me walk away."

"I know why he doesn't remember." Skye admitted. "The procedure that saved him has side effects and you combat them by removing the memory. He doesn't remember me because I worked on TAHITI with him, and he doesn't remember Lily because it could trigger the serum."

"I'm not sure if losing that is worth him breathing again." May admitted, wiping her face.

"I'll figure out a different way to combat the serum." Skye promised May, trying not to cry too. "He deserves to remember."

"It was the worst thing that happened to me." May spoke. "But she was the best thing that happened to him."

 **AN- So a special thanks to Alex McPherson for the inspiration for this chapter. I was going to skip ahead of season one but she gave me a good idea to follow it for a little while.**

 **As always leave me a review telling me what you think and follow if you want to read more.**

 **Amyx**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN- So I've been writing this chapter for a while, I'm not too sure that I like what I've done with it but this was the 'easiest' way for the flow of the story. I have said that I wanted to keep at least season one the same but I feel like I'd changed too much about Skye for the way the first season went to be believable. I have tried writing it as true to the show as possible but it wasn't working so I've changed it up a bit. And by a bit I mean a lot.**

 **Sorry for the late upload but I have been spending a lot of time trying to get this chapter perfect so I hope the wait was worth it.**

Skye had begun training with Agent Ward and she knew he wasn't training her. She'd been slowly receiving the files she was looking for from her contacts in the Rising Tide and forwarded them to Director Fury, but even with the partial information they had, she knew there was a mole in SHIELD, and it was more than one person. The way the information had been delivered was less than ideal, especially given that she had tipped off their target so that she could retrieve the files. She couldn't keep quiet about her identity any more, three years undercover was a piece of cake but the past week with Coulson's team was the most tedious and mind numbing experience she had been through. Only Agent May knew, but she was more than certain that Coulson would be angry with her, especially when he found out what she was really hiding. So Skye took a deep breath, shared a glance with Agent May and walked up to Coulson's office, preparing herself for a very awkward and potentially painful conversation.

"Coulson, I need to speak with you." Skye spoke as she knocked on the door to his office. She pushed in, despite his lack of response, trying to gage how badly he would react.

"I was just about to ask for you." He spoke sharply. He was angry; it wasn't too hard to guess given how well she knew the older agent. "I think you've been lying to me and I would like for that to stop. Now."

"Just so you are aware, Agent Coulson, I am defying a direct order by telling you this." Skye started, reaching into her back pocket, where she had her SHIELD badge.

"An order from whom?" Coulson raged, drawing his gun and aiming it at her. "Your friends in the rising tide? Or maybe someone with deeper pockets."

"Agent Coulson drop your weapon. That is an order." Skye barked, taking him by surprise. "As a level nine agent I have full authority to have you detained if need be, now drop your weapon."

And Coulson did. His gun hit the floor and his gaze shifted, focusing closer in until he collapsed, convulsions quickly wracking his body.

"Agent May, we have a problem." Skye announced over the coms. "Bring Agent Ward up to Coulson's office and have Fitzsimmons get the lab ready."

Skye tried to hold Coulson down, but was having very little success. It was only when two other pairs of hands joined her that they managed to hold him still, although it was still proving difficult.

"What did you tell him that triggered this reaction?" May asked, concern painted across her face.

"He pulled a gun on me before I could explain anything. I gave him a direct order and he just started convulsing." Skye spoke, though briefly. She knew May would understand, but Ward wouldn't, and that exact moment wasn't the right time to start explaining everything. Especially after the information she had dug up.

"I need to call Director Fury. May, Ward, can you carry him to the lab?" May gave her a sharp nod and moved to pick up Coulson. Ward was a little hesitant but followed May's lead.

When they left the room, Skye linked into her secure line to Fury, unsure if he would pick up.

"Agent Barton, you're a little early for your check in, is something wrong?" Fury spoke, his image filling the screen in front of her.

"My cover is compromised and Coulson is remembering." Skye spoke, trying to hide her irritation. "Although it would have been nice to know that you'd altered his memory before I started this assignment."

"You didn't need to know. Besides, you had strict orders to play along and get me the Intel." Fury spoke, a slight frown marking his expression.

"He knew I was hiding something, and retrieving the last information packet didn't exactly deny his suspicions. He may not remember me but he can still read me like a book." Skye rolled her eyes, still annoyed that Coulson was the only person she couldn't fool. "It was either tell him the truth or take a bullet to the face."

"Well, we can't change that now." Fury sighed, running a hand across his face. "How would you categorise his reaction?"

"Alright enough." Skye sighed; remembering the many people she had seen snap during the time she spent working on the TAHITI project. "It's been severe enough initially that he shouldn't become violent or self destructive, but he's going to have a lot of questions that he'll need answering. And a lot of anger that he could let loose in all the wrong ways."

"Do you believe he will be able to handle it?" Fury asked, concern written across his expression.

"You erased years worth of memories, you made him forget his daughter, there's no telling how he'll react." Skye shook her head, dreading the next few days she had in front of her. "I have Agent May to help me; I think we'll be able to handle him." Skye nodded, before she was left staring at a blank screen.

"Skye?" Melinda's voice broke through Skye's shock, drawing her attention. Skye hadn't realised, but she'd been crying.

"I'm worried about him, Mel." Skye admitted, wiping the tears from her face.

"Me too." May frowned, pulling Skye into a tight hug.

"I need to explain a few things to the others." She sighed, pulling away from Melinda. "Stay with Coulson and send the others to the command centre when he's stable."

May switched back into her cold demeanour, curtly nodded at Skye and left the room, leaving Skye to think through how she would explain herself to the other agents.

…

Skye had stood in the command centre for a few minutes, retrieving her file and restoring it in the SHIELD data base. She was a little scared, not only would the team find out about who she really was, but so would a lot of people who believed her to be a myth.

"Skye, why is Agent May suddenly worshiping the ground you walk on?" Fitz asked as he walked into the command centre, Simmons and Ward not too far behind.

"I wouldn't say worshipping." Simmons rolled her eyes. "But I agree that she's acting a little strangely."

"What's going on with Coulson?" Ward asked, ignoring the two scientists.

"That is a very long story, and I need your word not to tell it." Skye spoke, looking each of them in the eye. "Some of what I am about to tell you is highly classified, and some of it has just been released from the Deep Lock Vault." Skye handed Simmons and Fitz a file containing brief details of the TAHITI project, watching in silence as they skimmed through it.

"I think a good question might be how do you know all of this?" Fitz asked, leaning his hands on the holo-table. "You've only been here for a few weeks."

Skye took a deep breath before pressing a few keys on the table, pulling up her file on the screen behind her. "I may have only been on the plane for a few weeks but I've been part of SHIELD for a lot longer."

"Agent Skye Barton. Codename, the Sparrow." Simmons read, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "It's a myth they would tell at the academy."

"I'm surprised you heard it, the Sparrow's a legend in Operations." Ward dismissed, staring intently. "Sparrow saved my ass when more than one mission went south, how didn't I recognise you?"

"Because nobody has ever seen my face. I wear a scarf over my mouth and nose and pull my hood pretty low." Skye frowned. "You may have heard of me and seen me in passing during a mission but nobody knows who I am. Or at least nobody knew. Fury and Hill have been keeping me a secret for years, burying any information on me."

"Why?" Fitzsimmons asked, both of them speaking at the same time.

"I have been on the most dangerous and life threatening missions on record and have spent the last three years protecting SHIELD from hackers that want to publicise our secrets. We couldn't risk anyone accessing my file. The Rising Tide may seem like a couple of nerds in a basement but they would have killed me the second they found out I was an agent.

"And that would have been nothing compared to how they would react if they found out about the TAHITI project." Skye explained, everyone listening intently.

"I have a few questions." Ward interjected, his fingers drumming against the holotable, his gaze downcast. "Questions I need to ask alone."

Fitzsimmons exchanged a look before scurrying out of the room, heading down to the lab.

"When were you planning on telling me any of this?" He asked accusingly, anger inked across his face. "You've saved my ass more than once so you obviously don't need training, so why put yourself through it all again? Did Coulson order you to?"

"I have higher clearance than Coulson, he can't order me to do anything. In fact, he doesn't remember anything about me and we've been friends for years." Skye threw back, venom inching into her voice. "I was under orders from Director Fury to not say anything, to anyone, ever. I disobeyed a direct order to try and help Coulson, but clearly that hasn't worked out too well."

"Do you think orders are a good enough excuse?" Ward spat. "We are your team and we deserve…"

"You can pretend to be as self-righteous and innocent as you want." Skye interrupted. "I was asked to do some digging while in the Rising Tide and I found out some pretty interesting information. While I haven't decoded your orders yet, I know all about your past and who you really work for. Fury doesn't know anything yet and I was hoping to avoid having to tell him who you really are."

"And why would you do that?" Ward asked, the threat in his voice gone.

"Because it's too easy to spot a scared kid who has no other options." Skye sighed, her gaze softening. "I know that John Garrett saved you from jail when you were sixteen."

"Then you would know he pulled me out of hell, gave me someone I could depend on, someone I could trust. Ward shook his head. "I owe him everything. I will always owe him for that."

"He pulled you out of hell and dropped you into a god damn forest and left you for months." Skye disagreed, anger suddenly filling her voice. "The only thing you owe him his bullet to the head."

"If you know that much then you know I am not a good man. I have far too much blood on my hands." Ward locked eyes with Skye, a foreign look in his eyes. "Why help me?"

"I guess I'm a bit too much like my brother, you deserve a second chance and I'm willing to offer you one."

"And if I don't accept your offer?" Ward asked.

"Then you should watch your back." Skye warned, before leaving the room.

…

"How is he?" Skye asked, walking into the lab.

"Stable." Simmons began, looking over the machines. "His heart rate is normal, there's no damage left behind from the seizure, but his brain activity is elevated for someone who's supposed to be in a coma."

"That's normal for someone of his condition." Skye shook her head, goose bumps rising on her skin from such a familiar sight. "He'll wake up within the next six hours, I'd say, and it will do him good to have some familiar faces around." Skye frowned, her gaze falling on Melinda.

"But not mine." She sighed, reluctant to move from the chair.

"When he wakes up, he will remember his lost memories." Skye frowned. "He'll need some time to process through them while cognisant before it's safe to see him."

May nodded, her eyes softening when she looked at Phil's face.

"I'm sorry Mel." Skye breathed, much more behind the apology than simply asking her to leave the room. Skye had tried to prevent TAHITI from ruining people's lives, and it turned out she'd failed. May swiftly left the lab, heading for the cockpit.

"I'll need the two of you to have in ear coms active at all times." Skye ordered, turning to the scientists. "I won't be able to be in the room, but that also means he can't hear my voice either. I'll talk you guys through handling him when he wakes up; he could be violent so have an ICER with you at all times too."

Simmons nodded but Fitz stood staring at Skye.

"Were you ever going to tell us?" He asked, hurt in his eyes.

"I don't know." Skye frowned. "I couldn't exactly mention it with Coulson around; you've seen what that does."

"Yeah, I guess not." Fitz sighed, turning and grabbing a case from one of the cabinets. "Simmons helped me work on some new coms, so that they would be harder to detect. We can use these."

"Thank you, Fitz." Skye smiled sadly. "I am sorry." Before she could say anything else her phone rang, Clint's caller ID on the screen.

"Is everything okay? Your file's been released, the Triskelion is going crazy." Clint asked worriedly once she picked up.

"Everything's fine, I'm back in SHIELD, I'm safe but my cover was blown." Skye reassured her brother. "How've you been? You still weren't in good shape when I last spoke to you."

"I'm okay." Clint smiled, though Skye knew part of him still felt guilty. "I still haven't accepted another mission but I don't think I want to. Tony offered me a job with the Avengers. Said we could be some crime fighting force like SHIELD."

"It sounds perfect." Skye smiled, glad her brother finally felt like he had a place. "I'd ask how Natasha's been but she'll probably call me the second you hang up."

Fitzsimmons watched the conversation, wondering who Skye was talking to.

"I've been asked to offer you a position with the Avengers, if you want it." Clint informed her. "We could use another epic crime fighter."

"I think I'll pass." Skye shook her head. "I've got a new team and I really love working with them. Mel's even back in the field, it's good to have a familiar face."

"Then I will leave you, Tony's just set fire to his lab." Clint laughed. "The next time you're in the US, come to the tower."

"I will, I promise." Skye smiled. "I love you."

"Love you too Marion." Clint smiled before hanging up the phone.

"Boyfriend?" Simmons asked with a smile.

"Brother." Skye shook her head, before noticing the looks on Fitzsimmons faces. "He's technically my guardian but he's been a brother to me since we were in the orphanage."

"Agent Barton." Simmons muttered. "Your brother's Hawkeye."

"Yeah, but… he's just Clint." Skye shrugged.

"And he would take offense to that." Another voice chimed, coming from the stairs.

"Nat, Maria." Skye smiled, hugging the two women.

"We just docked, I told Mel to make it a surprise for you." Maria grinned, noticing the confused look on Fitzsimmons faces. "We'll explain everything once Coulson is stable."

"I still can't believe he's alive." Nat spoke dumbfounded, walking to Phil's side. "He always was stubborn. Not that I'm complaining since it was his stubbornness that saved my life. Clint's going to be pissed."

"Hopefully Coulson will be okay enough to break the news himself." Maria commented, carrying a thick file over to Fitzsimmons. "This is everything we have about Coulson's procedure and the relevant information from the TAHITI project. Read as much of it as you can and ask Agent Barton about it if you have any questions."

"I assume you're here for my debrief." Skye smiled slightly, having thought it was long overdue.

"Well, that's what she's here for." Nat smiled. "I'm here because Fury has had people monitoring the plane since you stepped foot on it. He knows about your conversation with Ward, and he wants me to bring him to a cell if he refuses to cooperate."

"I hope that won't be necessary." Skye frowned, though she knew she shouldn't feel a connection to Ward, especially when she took into consideration what she knew about him.

"That's what I'm here to determine." Nat smiled sympathetically.

"Bobbi's fine, by the way." Maria interjected.

"I didn't ask." Skye spoke defensively.

"You don't need to." Maria shook her head. "You're my baby sister in every way but blood."

"I need to get my observations set up so that we can monitor Coulson when he wakes up." Skye dodged, heading out of the lab. "And thank you." She smiled to Maria before heading out of the room, Natasha following close behind.

"Don't ask, you'll just get a headache." Maria informed the scientists, who quickly rushed to read through the file.

…

"Mel." Phil mumbled, slowly waking up. "Lily… Mel." His eyes blinked open, only to see a worried Fitzsimmons hovering over him.

"How are you feeling sir?" Simmons asked, though after a slightly long break. "What do you remember?"

"I was in my office, talking to Skye…" He trailed off, a few flashes of her on missions with him filling his mind. The destroyer in New Mexico, an underground lab… TAHITI. "Fury that son of a bitch." He cursed, trying to jump down from the observation table.

"Sir, we need to do a few tests before we can let you leave the lab." Simmons frowned, pushing him back down.

"Yeah, I know." Phil sighed, remembering doing the same tests himself.

"We should have most of the results within the next few minutes from your phys eval, but we need to ask you a few questions." Fitz interjected, sharing a look with Simmons.

"What do you remember about Skye?" Simmons started, her eyes flicking down to her tablet to monitor his vitals.

"We first met during her first few years as an agent, I ran backend for a lot of her missions, and we even shared command of a lot of them until about three years ago. She was sent undercover to…" Coulson stopped, having put the pieces together. "She went undercover and was kept off of the systems; she must have gone into the rising tide then."

"And Agent May?" Fitz prompted, satisfied that he was in control.

"Mel." He whispered, remembering their marriage, the mission that broke her, the nights she spent crying after they lost their baby. "Lily." He breathed.

"I think it's safe for you to see the rest of the team, sir." Simmons smiled, having heard Skye's instructions through their active com unit.

Before he could even stand up, Melinda was in his arms, sobbing into his shoulder. Phil smiled to himself, running his hand through Melinda's hair, placing a kiss on top of her head. A tear rolled down his face. "I'm so sorry Mel." He whispered. "How could I have forgotten you?"

"That doesn't matter." She soothed, pulling away to look into his eyes. "You remember now, and that's all I care about."

Fitzsimmons quietly left the lab, not wanting to interrupt the moment Coulson and May were having.

"You did good guys." Skye congratulated, a smile on her face. "You did good."

 **AN- So that was very different from what I had planned for this chapter. I had imagined something very different but I think this fits nicely. I figured that since I had changed so much that it wouldn't have played out the same for the team so I gave it a pretty big twist. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with Ward's character so I'd love to hear some of your suggestions.**

 **As always, I love hearing what you guys have to say, so let me know what you think and please follow if you want to read more.**

 **Amyx**


	12. Chapter 12

"Agent May?" Natasha spoke tentatively, knocking on the door of her old SO's apartment. She wasn't sure how to deliver the news, but she knew it wouldn't end well. "Mel?" She asked again, knowing that her change in address would let Mel know that something was wrong.

Melinda opened the door to see a red eyed Natasha holding a very large bottle of vodka. "Can I come in?" The redhead asked, receiving a slow nod from the older woman. She walked over to Mel's couch, taking a seat. Phil had picked it out when he and Mel first moved in together, it felt strange sitting on it without him.

"What happened?" Mel asked, quickly retrieving two glasses for the pair.

"Before the battle, on the Helicarrier." She began, only for tears to start streaming down her face again.

"It was attacked." Melinda nodded, having heard that much from her desk in her secluded office. "Did something happen?" She was already on edge. Natasha never cried, only something terrible could have happened. She also knew that Phil hadn't called her, was he injured?

"Phil, he…" Natasha choked, taking a deep breath. "He tried to take on Loki alone."

Nothing more needed to be said between the pair as Melinda broke down, sobs wracking her body. "I should have been there." She kept repeating, each time her sobs getting louder and more heart wrenching. She could feel it; a piece of her had died with Phil.

…

Melinda had mourned for weeks, only leaving her apartment to get more alcohol. And then she received a call from Director Fury.

"I've done something you might not like Melinda." Fury frowned when she answered the phone. "I brought him back."

Melinda didn't say anything. She couldn't find her voice, but she did find the end call button and pressed it after a long silence. She was angry. No, she was more than angry. She was furious. She'd mourned Phil, she'd buried him and she'd had to spend the last month trying to find a way to live without the only thing that made her life make sense.

When the rest of Fury's calls and visits came, she felt less and less angry, but she began to mourn again. He wouldn't remember her, and he may not even survive very long given the procedure Fury would barely tell her about. And she would have to spend years of her life working with a man who wouldn't remember their marriage, their child or the look she would get in her eyes when he would pull her close after a long mission and whisper to her about nothing. And that killed the last piece of her she had left.

…

"I'm sorry you had to go through that Mel." Phil whispered, pulling her close. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to hold you, to ease your pain."

"You were dead; you couldn't have changed any of that." Melinda whispered back, curling into his side.

"I'm still sorry." Phil whispered, continuing to talk about everything and nothing until Melinda fell asleep in his arms. It was perfect to him, to have her back. But he knew that it might not last long, so he pulled her closer, wanting to spend as many borrowed seconds with her as he could.

…

"Director Fury." Coulson smiled falsely, waiting for the perfect moment to lose his temper. After all, he couldn't have May or Hill stop him from pummeling the man.

"Agent Coulson." Fury nodded, shaking Coulson's hand. "Shall we take this up to your office?" Fury asked, apparently already knowing what Coulson was planning.

"Are you sure that's a good idea sir?" Maria asked, alarm clear in her expression.

"This is a conversation we need to have alone." Fury nodded, following Coulson up to his office.

Within a few seconds of the door closing, Phil threw a right hook at Fury, knocking the man against the door behind him. "You son of a bitch." Phil growled, hitting the man a few more times. "How could you take away my family?" He demanded, continuing his assault. With one last punch, Fury was on the ground with a bloodied face, showing no intention of fighting back.

"I did what was necessary." Fury shook his head. "It was remove those memories or have you go insane, which by the way is very likely to happen."

"I don't care." Coulson shook his head. "I saw first hand what is going to happen to me, and I don't give a damn. This is my wife and child I'm talking about. Why would you take that from me? For years, Melinda has been the only thing that has kept me from losing my mind and you are fully aware of that. And I don't want to hear your god damn excuses, I want the truth."

"Then I can't give you the answers you want." Fury surrendered, standing up.

"Get off of my plane." Phil growled, his eyes burning, his jaw set.

"I'm giving command of this unit to Agent Barton; I can't risk you losing your mind when we need your head clear." Fury informed the man before walking out of the office. "I'll take Hill and Romanoff back with me."

With one last howl of anger, Phil punched the wall behind his desk, his fist going through the drywall panel.

"You're fixing that." A voice smiled from the door.

"Skye." Phil smiled slightly. "I hope you don't mind a hole in your office."

"No." Skye shook her head. "But I do mind that one of my agents is far too pissed off right now. Calm down."

"You've said yourself; I'm practically your dad. That means I override your orders." Phil quipped.

"When we land I'm giving you some time off." Skye sighed, moving slightly further into the room. "Take May with you and spend some time away from SHIELD, I can handle the plane for a few days without you."

"If I'm having time off, you are too." Phil raised an eyebrow at Skye. "The whole team could use a few days."

"I'm going to tell Fury that I will take over the plane if he lets me look into TAHITI and your daughter." Skye smiled, taking a seat at Phil's old desk.

"You like the chair?" Phil smiled.

"It might convince me to take the position anyway." Skye smiled. "I haven't had a desk job in years."

"It's not all its cracked up to be." Phil joked, walking out of the office. "Take some time for yourself."

"Maybe when I fix everything Fury's managed to mess up." Skye laughed to herself, heading for the door.

 **AN- So this was a short chapter but I wanted this to be just about Coulson so I removed most of the stuff I wrote with Skye for a future chapter.**

 **Please let me know what you think by leaving a review and please follow the story if you want to read more.**

 **Amyx**


	13. Chapter 13

"May and Coulson are taking the week off and in that time we are going to look into everything related to the TAHITI project to find a way to help Coulson." Skye ordered, having gathered Fitzsimmons and Ward in the lab. "Fitz I need you to understand everything about what they did to his brain and to try and figure out what these symbols mean." Skye pressed a few buttons on her tablet and the carvings she had seen a thousand times over appeared on the screen. "Simmons, try to figure out what this has to do with his brain chemistry. Maybe it triggers some kind of drug and I need you to figure out what it is."

"We'll start right away." Simmons smiled, both her and Fitz heading to their workstations.

"Follow me Agent Ward." Skye smiled, walking out of the lab and toward the Armory.

"And what are you going to do with me?" Ward asked, noticing the multitude of weapons she was gathering.

"We are going to hunt someone down." Skye informed him, beginning to place Wards weapons preference in front of him. "And by that I really mean you're going to find the doctors who operated on Agent Coulson and I am going to look for someone else."

"Are you going to tell me who you're going after?" Ward asked, gearing up.

"That's classified Agent Ward." Skye frowned, moving to a panel in the wall to remove it and retrieve her bow and quiver. "And you still haven't given me an answer. Until you do I will not entrust highly sensitive information to you."

"Just highly classified information." Ward laughed, walking out of the Armory with her. "And I'm guessing May is with Coulson in case he goes volatile."

"May is with Coulson because they have a very long history and it will do him good to have her there." Skye corrected, climbing into one of the SUVs parked outside of the bus. "Take a team and find out if any of the doctors are willing to help us." Skye handed Ward a file with the doctors' information in it.

"Yes Ma'am." Ward mock saluted, grinning. "And when this is over, I'm training with you for real. Unless of course you think I'll win."

Skye laughed, putting on a pair of sunglasses. "You wouldn't stand a chance." She informed him before driving off, heading to New York. She had someone with unlimited resources she needed to see.

Ward couldn't help but grin as he watched her drive away, only for his smile to fall when his phone rang. "Garrett, what can I do for you?"

"I need you to neutralize Agent Barton." Garrett spoke, shock spreading through Ward's expression.

"Which one?" He eventually asked, hoping that he meant Hawkeye was his target.

"Skye." Garrett spoke, sending a chill down Ward's spine. He could hear the grin in his SO's voice. "Sorry, by you need to cross off your girlfriend as soon as you find out how Coulson is alive."

Ward couldn't think. His brain frozen and his breath stopping short. He didn't say anything, he just hung up the phone and stared off in the direction Skye had left.

"Agent Ward sir." A technician approached, holding a tablet in his hands. "We have a team assembled for you and Agent Hand is willing to offer her services."

"Thank you Agent." Ward smiled fakely, taking the tablet he was being offered.

"They're just outside the hangar." The technician informed him before heading to service the bus.

"Agent Ward?" A female voice asked, a small group of agents walking toward him.

"My name is Agent Morse, my team has been assigned to help with your mission." The tall blonde smiled, extending a hand.

"Let's get your team on the bus." Ward shook her hand before turning around and heading up the ramp.

…

When Skye reached New York she was beginning to regret reaching out to Stark. He was far too enthusiastic about helping her and that only made her more anxious. She also didn't trust that her brother would let her do her work. She had someone to find.

"Agent Barton." Tony smiled as she got out of her car. "It is good to see you again."

"You too Stark." Skye rolled her eyes, grabbing her bow and laptop before locking the car.

"You really are a mini Legolas." He smiled, walking into the tower with her.

"My brother taught me how to use a bow. Everything else is thanks to Maria and Nat." Skye corrected, pleased that Jarvis remembered her.

"I have a lab setup for us to work in." Tony informed her, waiting for the elevator to stop. "I also did what you requested and removed Katniss' access to the labs. But you will have to see him during meals and any time you go to the gym."

"Thank you Mr Stark." Skye smiled. "A rumor around SHIELD is that you can track someone purely based on their DNA."

"I've had some success." Tony shrugged, which was very humble for the self proclaimed playboy.

"I need you to look for anyone who could be the daughter of two agents on my team." Skye cut through, not particularly in the mood for running circles around Tony Stark.

"It's possible but there could be hundreds of results." Tony nodded. "It would be helpful if you could give an approximate age as well to narrow down the field." Tony kept talking as they walked into the lab.

"She would be 25. Was kidnapped by an unknown party in the Hunan province in China and would likely be in the company of powered individuals." Skye informed him, setting up her laptop and transferring the DNA analyses from Coulson and May into Jarvis' system.

"So whose kid are you looking for?" Tony glanced at Skye, noticing how she froze up.

"I can't share that with you unfortunately." Skye dodged, continuing to type.

"There's not much you need to help with right now." Tony smiled, a devious look in his eyes. "Why don't you go and see your brother?"

"Have me informed the second you find something." Skye conceded, walking towards the elevator. "And just so you're aware Stark, the second you try to run an identity match on the two DNA samples, SHIELD won't hesitate to arrest you." She smiled sweetly before stepping into the elevator.

…

"Our best bet is to question Doctor Streiten, one of two SHIELD scientists mentioned in this report." Ward informed Morse's team, pulling up his file on the screen. "I want Hartley and Morse to make the approach with Mackenzie here running back end. Carter and I will be outside as backup in case we aren't the only people interested in Streiten."

"How do you want this to go?" Morse asked, leaning in the table. "He may not come with us willingly."

"I think he will." Sharon interrupted, still looking at Streiten's file. "If he was operating on Coulson then he would have had major problems with what he was doing. He has three grandkids, repeatedly put his conscience above the things asked of him. He'll do anything to make up for what Coulson went through while in his care."

"So we just ask nicely?" Mack raised an eyebrow, his arms tightly crossed.

"That's exactly what we should do." Sharon nodded.

"Hartley, Morse, be ready in twenty." Ward nodded, still distracted by his conversation with Garrett.

"We only need five." Morse shrugged, the pair leaving the room.

"Are you okay Agent Ward?" Sharon asked, studying his expression.

"I'm fine Agent Carter." Ward coughed. "Let's get everything set up." He nodded, pushing the distraction to the back of his mind.

…

Skye had been talking with her brother for an hour when she finally got the call from Stark, and she didn't waste any time rushing down to the lab.

"I have three potential candidates." Stark reported when Skye stepped into the room. "Amanda Ritchson, Jane Doles and Rose Wilson. There were more but these three girls all didn't exist until 7 to 10 years ago."

"Good work Stark." Skye grinned, moving to look at the three potential candidates. "I need to get this back to base. There's a biologist I know who will be able to help me further narrow the field." Of course that would be if she was willing to help, they hadn't spoken for a while.

"Keep me in the loop." Tony raised an eyebrow at Skye. She could tell by the look in his eyes that there was something he wasn't telling her.

"Of course I will." Skye smiled, quickly sending an email to herself that would give her unhindered access to Stark's systems.

…

"Agent Ward, I've had a call that we need Agent Morse to remain on the bus." Simmons called, quickly stopping her from climbing into the van.

Ward pulled Simmons to the side, wanting to hear whatever she couldn't say in front of Morse.

"Skye needs her for an identification and she can't guarantee that Agent Morse will help if she knows Skye is coming." Simmons whispered quickly, glancing over at Morse while she spoke.

"Did she say why?" Ward asked curiously, not particularly liking that he had to change plans last minute.

"No." Simmons shook her head. "But she did say it was extremely important."

Ward sighed, running a hand over his face. "Okay." He conceded. "You're staying here Morse." He called across the hangar.

Bobbi rolled her eyes and stepped away from the van, muttering to herself.

"Carter, you'll be going in with Hartley." Ward ordered, climbing into the driver's seat. "Other than that, the plan stays as it was."

"I'll help Mack in the command center." Bobbi offered, receiving a nod from Ward. "You better have a good reason for keeping me here." Bobbi muttered to Simmons before heading up to the command center.

…

"Are you sure Bobbi will help you?" Clint asked Skye, accompanying her to her car.

"It's not me she's helping, it's Agent May." Skye corrected, rolling her eyes at her brother. "Besides, I'm only asking her for her professional opinion, it's not like I'm begging her to give me a second chance."

"I still don't see why it has to be Morse." Clint shook his head. "If that biochemist of yours is as brilliant as you say she is surely she can help."

"It's not a matter of who's better, it's about who already knows what I'm asking about." Skye argued, stepping out of the elevator. "Simmons doesn't know about May's kid and I am sure May would appreciate it if I didn't go around telling our team about her personal life."

"I understand that." Clint sighed. "But that doesn't mean that Bobbi will."

"I trust her." Skye stated, climbing into the driver's seat. "After everything, after all this time, I still trust her. And I trust that she'll put our personal history aside to help Agent May."

"For what it's worth, I hope you're right." Clint smiled sadly, placing a kiss on his sister's cheek. "Try not to get hurt Marion."

"Always with the dramatics." Skye sighed, turning the key in the ignition. "Go back to saving the world Robin Hood."

Clint chuckled as Skye drove away, hoping that she wouldn't come back heartbroken again.

 **AN- Oooh, things are getting interesting. Anyone think Bobbi is going to help? As always I'd love to hear what you thought about this chapter so please leave a review and follow the story if you want to read more.**

 **Amyx**


	14. Chapter 14

Coulson had never been one to hold a grudge, at least not for this long, but as every second passed he felt himself becoming angrier and angrier with Director Fury. In his opinion, the man was to manipulative and secretive to be trusted, hell the man didn't even trust people.

"Fury has a lead he wants to show me." Phil announced, walking into the kitchen where Mel was making lunch.

"What about?" Mel asked, knowing that he hadn't been himself for days. And if his performance in bed was anything to go by, he was very, very angry.

"Just something about Lily." Coulson shrugged, immediately knowing that he'd made a mistake. "It's probably going to be another dead end; I'll call you if it turns out to be something concrete."

"Okay." Mel agreed skeptically, placing a kiss on Phil's cheek.

"I should get there around six." He smiled, planting a hard kiss on her lips. "I love you, Melinda May."

"I love you too." She smiled, though still skeptical about where Coulson was going. She quickly retrieved the gun she had hidden under the sink and waited for Coulson to pull out of the drive before she got onto her motorcycle and followed him.

...

Skye took a deep breath before stepping onto the plane, nervous about what was going to happen when she faced Bobbi for the first time in years. It was very likely that she wouldn't help, and that she'd slap Skye on the way out, but she needed someone she trusted to help, and that someone was Barbara Morse.

"Bring him in." She heard Bobbi's voice speak, most likely from the command centre. "Good work Agents."

"You do remember that Agent Ward was in command of this mission right?" Skye saw Mack shake his head as she walked closer to the command centre. They appeared to have been running a mission, most likely Ward and his ambiguous loyalties didn't want to give her a reason to shoot him.

"Agent Mackenzie." Skye announced, noticing Bobbi roll her eyes when she saw her ex. "Agent Fitz could use some help with the carvings, he's in the lab."

Mack took a moment to glance between the two women before bowing his head slightly and leaving the room.

"I should have known you were the Agent who kept me off of the mission." Bobbi rolled her eyes in distaste.

"Yes I was, but not for personal reasons." Skye shook her head, pulling up the information Stark found on the screen. "I need you to help me with identification. I would have Agent Simmons help but considering this concerns a member of our team, I wanted to contain this to people that I trust."

"And you let Stark see this?" Bobbi rose an eyebrow, pointing at the Stark logo in the bottom of the images.

"I needed his resources yes, but I didn't tell him who I was actually looking for." Skye corrected, still concerned that Stark was up to something.

"Who am I looking for?" Bobbi conceded, turning her attention to the screen.

"The daughter of Agents Coulson and May." Skye spoke, noticing the shock that momentarily read across Bobbi's expression.

"So you need me for my biology degree?" Bobbi asked, slightly amused that Skye even remembered that she had one.

"Yes, I do." Skye nodded, turning to her attention to the screen. "The girl we're looking for would be around my age, probably wouldn't have existed on any database, which we've already narrowed down, and she would most likely communicate with powered individuals, or exhibit her own powers herself."

"Why do you think that?" Bobbi asked interested.

"Because she disappeared in a flash of blue light." Skye stated, a slight frown forming on her face as she remembered May's story.

"I'd like to run a quick test on something before I look into these three." Bobbi informed Skye, starting to walk out of the command centre.

"It's not me, I ran my DNA through the data base years ago looking for a match and it came up empty." Skye frowned, catching Bobbi's arm. "I may not be able to find my parents, but this girl deserves to find hers."

Bobbi stared at Skye for a moment before turning around and looking through the girls' files, mostly looking at their pictures. "From what I can tell, Rose Wilson is our girl. Her biological markers indicate she's the perfect age, she has May's stature and cheek bones and she has Coulson's eyes." Bobbi smiled slightly, noticing Skye's own excitement. "I miss you, you know."

Skye was taken aback, her breath catching in her throat. She had not been expecting her to say that.

"My ex-husband was scarily like you, and I was so scared that I was going to repeat what happened with him if I married you." Bobbi explained, frowning. "It wasn't fair, but it happened and I can't change that. I'm sorry."

Skye didn't say anything; she just stared at Bobbi, thinking through the appropriate way to respond.

"Agent Barton, I need to speak with you in private." Ward announced from the door, not realizing that he was interrupting until it was too late.

"We can talk in my office." Skye smiled fakely, wishing she could rip Ward's throat out.

"I need to leave anyway; Hand is splitting up my team and sending me to Japan." Bobbi coughed walking out of the room. "I'll keep in touch." Bobbi smiled to Skye before heading off of the plane."

"This better be good, Agent Ward." Skye growled, heading up to her office.

"I think it's worth your time." Ward responded, following Skye up the stairs. He closed the office door behind them, taking a deep breath before he began. "I've been asked to kill you. Actually, I've been ordered to."

Skye seemed unaffected by his announcement; through she was running through every possible scenario in her head. She'd been doing that since her little brother was killed.

"I'm choosing your side, taking your offer." Ward informed her, handing over the gun that was strapped to his thigh. "I can't kill you."

"I'm glad to hear you've made up your mind." Skye smiled, giving him back his weapon. "You're going to need this, especially when your boss hears that you've changed sides."

…

"Agent Coulson, I was wondering when you were going to appear." Fury sighed, turning to see a gun pointed at him. "I know you're angry, but I did what I had to so you could live."

"And yet you erased the only thing in my life that had meaning." Coulson accused, stepping closer. "I felt different, like I'd changed. And it turned out I had, because I couldn't remember my life. My wife. My child. Skye, who I already think of as a daughter."

"Lower your weapon Agent Coulson." Hill's voice joined them in the office, the agent aiming her weapon at Phil. "I don't want to shoot you, but I will if you don't stand down."

"This is what we warned you would happen." Fury spoke, trying to keep Coulson calm. Or at least as calm as a raging person could be. "Self-destructive and violent tendencies, only these are much more severe."

"Are you really trying to tell me that I'm feeling like this because of the drug?" Coulson asked, shaking his head. "I'm feeling like this because I am angry, because you tried to take away my family. That's not something I would trade, not even for every bad guy in the universe to disappear. But I wouldn't expect you to understand that, because you don't trust and you certainly don't love."

Hill faltered for a moment. "He does have a point, sir."

"Yes, he does." Fury nodded. "But killing me will only push him over the edge and he will turn into the agents who couldn't handle the drug, and who went insane, drawing carvings across every surface they could find."

"I think that would be a worthy trade." Coulson shrugged, moving his finger to the trigger.

"You'd lose your family." May butted in, walking past Hill. "I followed you here because I didn't believe that Fury had a lead on our daughter. And even if he did, you wouldn't keep me out of it. If you lose your mind, I lose you. And if you lose your mind, you will be right back where you were, with a family you can't remember too far out of reach."

Coulson didn't move until his phone rang, which still didn't make him lower his weapon.

"Coulson, I have some very good news." Skye spoke from over the phone."

"Can it wait Skye?" Phil rolled his eyes, though his anger was already dissipating.

"I found her." Was the only thing she said before she hung up the phone, leaving Coulson in disbelief. The gin slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground.

"She found her." Coulson whispered, turning to face his wife. "She found her." He repeated louder, a grin spreading across both of their faces.

…

"Where was her last known location?" Coulson demanded the second he saw Skye.

"I don't think that really matters." Skye grinned, indicating that he follow her.

May and Coulson shared a look before following Skye through the bus, only stopping when they got outside the interrogation room.

"I'll leave you." Skye smiled, leaving the two outside the door.

"It's been so long." Coulson sighed, taking Melinda's hand.

"Let's go meet her." Melinda nodded, opening the door to the cage.

 **AN- So here we have some of what was happening at the same(ish) time. We're going to jump back in time a little in the next chapter but please let me know what you think. Leave a review and follow the story if you want to read more.**

 **Amyx**


	15. Chapter 15

Rose had grown up with a loving mother, and a group of people who were exceptional and kind and always looked at her strangely when they thought she couldn't see. They lived in a closed of village in the mountains, but she never knew exactly where, it was too dangerous. So as a child, and later teenager, living in the small community, it was strange to her when her mother took her hand and told her she needed to prepare for her gift. She knew her mother had a gift, so did Gordon and Lincoln and some of the other people she knew. Lincoln was two years older than her, and he was the only one of her friends that was given his gift. She had always hoped she would be picked too, but when Lincoln was chosen she knew it might never happen, no matter how happy for him she was.

So, fourteen years old, she began sitting with the council, all of whom were supportive of her, but she knew it was probably because they were scared of her mother. She did build their society, though that was a very long time ago. Over the next few months, she lost her friends, most of them saying she cheated and that she stole from them. She'd heard the older kids saying that about their friends, but she didn't think it would happen to her, so when she finally walked into the transgenic chamber, she only had one friend left by her side, Lincoln.

No matter what they had said to her, how they had explained it and how she understood, it was still terrifying. Stone crawled its way across her body, sealing her in a rock casing. She felt like she was stuck inside for hours, unable to see or hear anything, until she suddenly saw everything. The people outside, all muttering and complaining that they weren't her. The council in the other room, watching with baited breath. She saw herself, trapped in stone, the cocoon finally breaking apart. As the cocoon fell, she stopped seeing things, and began to see from her own eyes, though judging by her mother's expression, she must have looked different. She hoped she wasn't like Gordon, with no eyes. She was told that she had her father's eyes, and she didn't want to lose that part of herself, because it was her only connection to him.

But it wasn't her eyes that changed, not completely, they were changing colour over and over as she saw multitudes of people flashing in and out of her vision.

"Honey." She heard her mother call. "Focus on my voice, concentrate on what I am saying."

She did as she was asked, pouring her energy into what she could hear. Her vision began to focus, but not on her mother's face, who was crouched worriedly in front of her. She could see hundreds of years passing by, hundreds of people being killed so her mother could stay young, thousands of people passing through their village. Afterlife, she learned it was called. But then she saw her leaving afterlife with a man, a man she assumed to be her father. They had a baby, hey lived happily, until a man found her, cut her apart and threw her into the forest. She lived through it, but they'd lost their baby. That confused Rose, she'd grown up with her mother beside her, how could she have disappeared if she was right there. That was when she saw her mother and Gordon, her father suddenly gone. They were talking about another baby, one younger than theirs would have been. Gordon left and within seconds he was back, a baby in his arms. This was her, a bay stolen from her crib in the dead of night. She stopped looking and found herself on the ground, her mother staring down, worry in her eyes.

"Are you alright?" She asked, panic in her voice.

"I'm fine; I was just seeing things, people." She breathed, shoving her worries as far into the back of her mind as she could. "I could see everyone, everywhere. There was so much pain in their eyes." She whimpered, not telling the truth, but not lying either.

"We'll help you." Her mother promised.

"I will too." She heard Lincoln promise. Apparently he'd rushed into the room behind her mother. It felt strange still thinking of her as a mother, she'd taken her to replace the child she'd lost.

"I'd like to sleep." Rose sighed, blinking heavily. "I'm really tired."

"I'll take her to one of the cabins on the border." Lincoln offered, placing a hand on Jiaying's shoulder. "I can help her with her gift. Besides, we're best friends; I'm not going to leave her alone."

…

She did go with Lincoln, and admitted that her powers weren't as out of control as she had made them seem.

"I have them under control pretty well." Rose spoke, keeping watch on who was coming toward the cabin as she spoke. It had taken her a few minutes but she had been able to speak and use her gift at the same time, able to divide her energy fairly efficiently. "My mother, she isn't who she said she is. She kills people to stay young, takes their life force to keep herself alive. She isn't my mother either; she stole me as a baby after she lost her own."

"That's insane." Lincoln argued, though he had noticed Rose's eyes were now a milky white instead of their usual dark blue. "How would she know you wouldn't die if she put you through transgenisis? She couldn't have known if she wasn't your mother."

"She had Gordon go after me, he can see Inhumans like us, we look different to normal people. At least we do to him." Rose shook her head, noticing her mother was coming to check on her. "Mother's coming; I'll tell you more about it when she's gone."

Just as she finished talking, a knock on the door proved her right. Lincoln went to the door; leaving Rose to say sat in the room on her own.

"How's she doing?" Jiaying asked Lincoln, thinking she couldn't hear her. Though Rose wouldn't have been able to hear if she wasn't using her powers to focus closer on them.

"Well, actually." Lincoln nodded. "She's in a lot more control that I thought she would have been, but she still has a little way to go yet."

"I'll leave you with her then; I'm still trying to control some of the others who aren't too happy that she's gone through transgenisis." Jiaying explained before leaving.

"Do you think she knows?" Rose asked, not realizing that she'd said it inside of Lincoln's head.

"I don't know." He shrugged, turning around. "That's really creepy by the way." Lincoln chuckled, the pair soon falling into fits of giggles.

"Do you think Gordon knows who my real parents are?" She asked, suddenly excited by the concept.

"I don't know. From what you described he may not have seen them." Lincoln shrugged. "But I'll do anything I can to help."

…

Since she got control of her powers, she was allowed to go to school like the rest of her friends, or at least her former friends. It was strange for her to think that she didn't have anyone, other than Lincoln, but she managed. It was lonely, but she was fine.

As the years passed, she hadn't found anything about her parents. Well, she had, but it didn't get her very far. She only had her mother's name, who was apparently the person she got her potential for a gift from. It was almost impossible, especially when everything about her was protected by the American government. Lincoln had begun attending medical school and Rose couldn't help but be jealous. She never got to see him any more and he even started telling her about a girl he had met in his class. No matter how jealous she got, she never looked in on him. She'd promised herself she would never invade his privacy like that. Of course he always assumed that she would already know what was happening in his life, no matter how many times she said she wouldn't do something like that.

But as the time neared for her to go to college, all Rose could think about was finding something that would be a good cover for her abilities. She could study psychology, but Jiaying might not particularly like that. Over the years, she had stopped calling the woman 'mother', it felt wrong. Maybe she could go into criminology, become a PI and try to track down her parents, but even then it would still be very difficult to do. So when she arrived back at Afterlife, Jiaying and Lincoln were both waiting to talk to her.

"If this is some kind of intervention, I'm not interested." Rose breathed, too tired to bother digging through their minds to figure out what was going on.

"We just want to talk about what you want to do now." Jiaying tried to reassure her.

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "So, yes, this is an intervention."

"I don't know what I'm going to do." Rose admitted, sitting down in a chair across from the pair. "Nothing is interesting enough."

"You've always liked to draw." Jiaying smiled, having seen many of the beautiful sketched of the mountains surrounding afterlife that she'd seen over the years.

"Maybe I could find people." She suggested. "I can use my powers for good."

"It's very dangerous." Jiaying shook her head. Rose took the opportunity to dig into her head and saw that she was afraid she'd find her real parents if she did so.

"Dangerous for me, or for you?" Rose asked, tired of Jiaying lying to her.

"For all of us." Jiaying argued. "If someone finds out you have powers, they could kill you in a second, or try to torture you to find out where the rest of us are."

"That's not what you really think." Rose shook her head. "You're scared I'll find out your dirty little secret. But guess what, I already know everything."

Jiaying paled, her breathing almost stopping completely.

"You stole me." Rose accused, standing up. "How could you just rip me from my parents like that?"

"You don't understand." She started to explain, panic setting in.

"Yes I do." Rose yelled. "I've seen you're entire life, I know exactly how desperate you felt, but that doesn't justify what you did."

Rose walked into her room, packing the few belongings she had into her school bag, Lincoln close behind, helping her as best he could.

"You can't leave, it's too dangerous." Jiaying spoke desperately.

"If that was true, you wouldn't let us go to high school, or college, or get real jobs." Rose shook her head. "Gordon, take me as far away from this woman as you can." She called out, already knowing that Gordon regretted his part in her abduction.

"Of course." He nodded, appearing next to her.

"Wait, I'll go with her." Lincoln announced, taking her hand.

They then disappeared, leaving Jiaying to scream in agony, alone in her daughter's room.

…

Lincoln let Rose stay in his apartment while he finished med school, determined to help his childhood friend. As every day passed, she got closer to finding her parents, and she got closer to Lincoln. Their relationship slowly shifted from being friends, though neither of them would admit it. That was until Rose managed to steal a very large bottle of vodka and the pair got very drunk. It turned out she wasn't as good at controlling her gift when she was drunk and so accidentally read Lincoln's mind when he helped her sit down on the old shabby couch in their apartment.

Years passed by and the pair lived happily, determined to avoid revealing their powers. That of course became difficult when aliens started attacking New York and the pair almost gave themselves away when Lincoln defended them as they escaped the city, heading for somewhere a lot quieter to live. During the months after, Rose and Lincoln bought a small farm house in Georgia, determined to make it a safe place for powered people to transition into living in the real world.

"I think I found them." Rose grinned loudly, causing Lincoln to rush back into their bedroom. "They had someone look for me; they're so close to finding me too."

"That's great." Lincoln exclaimed, pulling Rose into a hug and spinning her, placing a kiss on her lips. "Do you know where they are now?"

"They're in Pennsylvania, but the people who were looking for me are in an airfield just outside New York." Rose grinned.

"We can leave soon." Lincoln smiled. "But first we need to sort out who's going to look after the farm."

"Alisha can send one of herselves to look after the place." Rose shrugged, grabbing the small bag she had ready packed for years in case they were ever found by the wrong people. "I can't believe this is happening."

…

When they arrived at the airfield, they were stopped momentarily but when Rose said she needed to find an 'Agent Skye Barton' because she had some very sensitive information, they let them through, though they sent two agents with them, apparently worried they weren't there with honest reasons.

They arrived at a large hangar, containing a very large plane, bustling with people.

"Agent Ward." One of the guards called, attracting a tall man's attention. He looked rather intimidating, though when Rose looked through his mind he did seem to be harmless, or as harmless for a recent traitor turned good could be. "The girl has some information for Agent Barton."

"I'll escort them." Ward nodded. Apparently that was all the guards needed to leave, possibly because he looked like he could kill them with his pinky before they could call for help. "What do you need to talk with Agent Barton about?" He asked, apparently mistrusting the strangers who suddenly turned up at a top secret base.

"It has to do with her current mission." She answered cryptically, having seen the woman she was looking for freeze him out of her search. Though he wasn't aware that she knew, and she wasn't about to tell him that.

After a short, silent walk through the plane, the woman they were looking for gasped, apparently excited by who she saw walking next to Agent Ward.

"Oh my god." She exclaimed, the woman behind her equally as surprised. "You're dismissed Agent Ward." She spoke, slipping into an authoritative mindset. The large man nodded and walked away. "This is amazing."

"I kind of have powers, so it's not that amazing." Rose spoke, slightly embarrassed. "I don't have many questions for them, since I've pretty much seen their entire lives."

"That doesn't matter." Skye smiled kindly, placing a hand on Rose's shoulder. "If you'd follow me to a safe room, we can get your parents here within half an hour." Rose quickly entered her mind, making sure that she was telling the truth, which luckily for them, she was.

They waited and waited and Rose kept watch for her parents, far too anxious to wait any longer. And then she saw them, moving excitedly through the plane, both anxious to see their daughter.

"I've been waiting for this moment for years, why am I so terrified?" Rose asked, taking Lincoln's hand. "It's all I've wanted since I got my powers."

"Because you've imagined it for so long, you're scared that you'll be disappointed." Lincoln frowned, pulling Rose into a hug.

Rose chuckled slightly, placing a kiss on his cheek before turning to look at the door, knowing her parents were just on the other side.

 **AN- And another cliff hanger because I'm completely evil. I did want to spread some of Rose/Lily's history across a few chapters but I didn't think it felt right with what I have planned for the rest of the story.**

 **Let me know what you think by leaving a review and please follow the story if you'd like to read more.**

 **Amyx**


	16. Chapter 16

As May and Coulson opened the door to the cage, they froze, staring at the girl they had lost all of those years ago. She looked just like May, with the same cool expression. But May and Coulson knew how to read a look like that, a look of disbelief.

After a few moments, May was the first to move, pulling Rose into a bone crushing hug. For the first time in years, Coulson saw may with a smile on her face, despite the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Lily." Coulson sighed, wrapping his arms around the two. He glanced up at Lincoln, who was smiling at the sight. "Thank you." He nodded to the man.

"Hi." Rose spoke, once they ended their hug. "My name's Rose, but you would know me as Lily."

"There are so many things to say." Coulson started, bewildered. "And I have no idea how to say them."

"I know." Rose nodded, a sympathetic smile on her face. "I know everything, and I know that you searched. You don't have to say anything." She spoke, glancing around the room. "Can we go somewhere that won't record what I say?"

Coulson nodded, leading them out of the plane and out of the hangar.

Rose glanced at Ward as he walked past, escorting a man toward the room they had previously been in. She had struggled to understand him, especially given that she hadn't dug into his history as of yet. She also glanced at Skye, who was still looking for her parents. She wouldn't be as optimistic if she knew everything Rose had seen.

Coulson escorted them to a common area, where small white sofas sat, rather strangely, next to a bar. "How did you find us?" He asked, not prepared for the story that flowed from Rose's lips. She told them everything, detailing her experience with Transgenesis and her 'mother'. Especially her 'mother'.

"So you know everything?" May asked hesitantly, struggling to get the image of bahrain out of her head.

"Yes." Rose answered, already knowing about Bahrain and the girl that she killed. She couldn't blame her mother for what happened, she would have made the same decision. "You can't blame yourself for what happened in that building. I would have made the same call."

May stared at the girl in front of her, disbelief clouding her features. "How can you look at me?"

Rose smiled, pulling May into a hug. "Because you're worthy of being forgiven, for everything."

…

Skye paced back and forth in the command centre, looking over the feed from the cage. Ward seemed to be running things fairly smoothly, and Dr Streiten was more than happy to cooperate, even handing over the names of other scientists on the project, and offering up some information that Skye had hoped would remain a secret.

"Agent Barton brought me onto the project a few years ago, she may be able to offer you some more information. I was only briefly involved before they brought me back on to advise with Coulson's recovery." Streiten finished, and Ward was clearly upset about the information he'd heard. She had hoped Coulson's name would be the only one he would recognise. She watched Ward leave the interrogation room and he was shortly stood next to her, his expression angry and his arms crossed over his chest.

"I'd like an explanation." Ward spoke, his voice quiet. She wasn't scared of Ward, despite his attempts to intimidate her.

"I was placed in command of the project shortly after Coulson started it." Skye began, still staring at the screen. "He wasn't aware that I was in command, he just believed that I was there to assist him."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Ward demanded, though his voice was still eerily quiet.

"Because I don't have answers, I was evaluating the TAHITI project for use in the Avengers Initiative." She explained, moving to look at Ward. "I wasn't aware of the intricacies, but Coulson was. I don't have answers and we can't ask Coulson for them."

"You could have said that from the beginning." Ward yelled, standing dangerously close to Skye. "You could have explained how you knew about TAHITI, you could have told us that from the beginning. You may not approve of my secrecy, but that doesn't excuse yours."

"I don't know how to help him." Skye yelled back, keeping the dangerous distance between the pair. "I spent years on that project and I still don't know how how to help. I watched people destroy themselves after they were exposed to GH-325 and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I can't live with my guilt, and I definitely can't live with it if the people I'm supposed to trust know how completely hopeless I am."

"So you were saving yourself." Ward spoke, disgust clear in his voice.

"Years of being hunted does that to a person." Skye whispered, still frozen in front of Ward. "Maybe you should have killed me." She spat, walking out of the command centre and up to her office.

…

Skye paced around her office, waiting for FitzSimmons to interrogate her, or maybe for Ward to come a second time. She knew that secrets were the death of a team and she was full of them, as was Ward. If their team survived the next few days then it would be a miracle.

But there were more things to be worried about, like the fact that someone wanted her dead and she didn't know who it was. She knew he had received orders from the group Fury was searching for, she'd been following them for three years and suddenly they wanted her dead the second her file was released. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but years of working in SHIELD told her that there were no such thing as coincidences. Someone was definitely watching her, and she'd find out what it was.

A knock on the office door pulled Skye out of her thoughts. She quickly opened the door to see Rose stood on the other side, a sad smile on her face.

"I thought you'd be with your parents." Skye commented, allowing Rose to walk into the room.

"I was." Rose nodded, standing rather awkwardly. "But we all needed a little space to process everything, and I have some information for you."

Skye simply nodded, slightly skeptical of the girl.

"I can help you find the person trying to kill you." Rose spoke, a blank expression on her face. "I can help you with Ward and my father, and I can help you find your parents."

Skye simply nodded, keeping her motions as calm and controlled as she could. "That's a lot of information for someone to have laying around in their head."

"It comes with the territory." Rose shrugged, expanding when she didn't see a shift in Skye's expression. "I have powers."

Skye simply nodded, trying to decide whether to ask this girl for all of the answers she needed, or whether it was safer to simply find out on her own.

"I don't have to tell you anything." Rose spoke. "But I need you to know about your parents, and I'm sorry but they're not the people that you have imagined they are."

Skye shrugged. "It can't be worse than what I have imagined."

Rose observed Skye for a moment, a somber expression falling over her face. "It is."

So she began her story, detailing the woman Jiaying really was, and the man she had married.

…

May sat with Skye in her bunk, allowing the younger girl to sob into her shoulder. She felt guilty. Guilty about the town that was slaughtered, the torture her mother went through and the loss May and Coulson had to live through. It was her fault, an overwhelming sense of guilt informing her so. None of this would have happened if it weren't for her, and there was nothing anybody could say to change her mind.

"Maria's on her way back." May suddenly spoke, catching Skye by surprise. "She's going to do what she can to keep Rose off of the index." She spoke, a blank expression clear on her face. She had to be strong for Skye. "She's also coming to help you."

"I'm supposed to be the one doing the helping." Skye frowned. "I'm doing a great job of commanding this team so far." She spoke, a dry sarcasm thick in her voice.

"I think you've been doing fine." May commented, helping Skye stand. "Now, you need to go debrief those men and women downstairs. You can't help Phil if you don't know what you're looking for."

"Thanks Mel." Skye smiled, pulling the older woman into one last hug. "I'll make things better." She spoke, leaving the bunk.

"I have to."

 **AN- This is a shorter chapter that I have been struggling with for literally months. I couldn't get the reunion scene to sound right so I've just given up and decided to post this. I won't be following the whole of the MCU with this story (mostly because that could take years given how long some of these chapters take me) but I will hopefully be following until the end of season 2 at least.**

 **Please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions or pointers then please don't hesitate to be blunt.**

 **Amyx**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN- I completely forgot that I hadn't uploaded several of the chapters I've written, my bad. But I hope you like the direction I'm taking this story in.**

Throughout their explanations, Bobbi couldn't help but stare at Skye, having spent three years wishing that she hadn't ended things. She was following the curve in her lip every time she spoke, watching the slight pout sneak through her mask when she was thinking about something. She was watching as Skye leant over the command centre table, trying to keep her eyes away from the all too familiar curve in her spine. It was hard for Bobbi to focus, and she wasn't going to deny it.

Before she realised, she was suddenly alone in the command centre with Skye, a slight bewildered expression on her face.

"Are you okay Bob?" Skye asked worriedly, the crease between Skye's eyebrows that Bobbi had always loved forming on her face.

"I'm fine." Bobbi smiled, trying her hardest to keep where her thoughts had gone far away from the forefront of her mind. "Just a bit tired, it was a long flight over."

Skye simply nodded, having always been able to read Bobbi like a book. "How's Hunter?" She suddenly asked. "Last I heard you were engaged again."

"He's moping around Europe." She replied. "I called it off with a rather well aimed bullet."

Skye simply nodded, all too familiar with Bobbi and Hunter's history. "I need you down in the lab with FitzSimmons, they could use another brain."

"You really like my biology degree." Bobbi commented, walking from the command centre and desperately trying to keep a blush off of her face.

…

"Agent Barton." Rose spoke, walking into Skye's office once again.

"We've got to stop meeting like this." Skye joked, moving round to the front of her desk. "What can I help you with?"

"I need to know about your answer." She spoke. "Whether you want to use my knowledge."

Skye took a deep breath, unsure if she wanted to use the girl's powers for her own personal gain. While it would be useful to have an unending pool of resources and information, she just couldn't bring herself to let it happen. This was May and Coulson's daughter, a young woman that had endured far too much, a perfect mirror of Skye's own struggle.

"No." Skye replied, noting the raised eyebrow on Rose's face. "At least not all of it. I won't have you stuck in a room simply answering any and all question shield has for you. It should be your choice whether to share your knowledge, and who you want to share it with. I have a friend coming to help keep your powers as under wraps as possible, she's like family so I know she can help you."

"It seems like we traded families." Rose smiled, chuckling slightly. "I should have grown up around SHIELD and you should have in Afterlife."

"I'm not too sure that's a good thing." Skye frowned. This girl already knew everything about her past, she knew about the orphanage and the families she lost.

"The reason you had that childhood was because SHIELD was keeping you safe." Rose disagreed, slipping out the information she hadn't realised she was keeping. The one piece of information she hadn't given Skye. "Ever since you were young they have been right there beside you, keeping the bad guys away. You may not realise it but you grew up with SHIELD."

Skye smiled sadly, the last piece of her puzzle fitting together. SHIELD had been looking out for her far longer than she had realised and she wasn't angry about it in the slightest. Her childhood may not have been the happiest but she wouldn't trade it for anything. She met clint in that orphanage as a child and she wasn't about to just trade it away for her mess of a mother. He was her family, Theo, Maria, Natasha, Bobbi, Coulson, Fury, May, even Fitzsimmons and Ward. They were all her family now and she would never have gained it if she had grown up in Afterlife.

"I wouldn't trade anything either." Rose smiled knowingly, leaving Skye's office. She could finish telling Skye everything another time, but she had a home to check in on and a most likely very worried boyfriend to calm down.

…

"Skye." Maria smiled, pulling her into a hug. She'd barely made it up the ramp of the BUS before she came across Skye.

"It's good to see you again, though it was only a few days ago." Skye grinned, leading Maria up to her office. "A lot has happened since you left."

"I heard." Maria grinned, noticing the vaguely familiar face sat on one of the sofas. "Is that…?" She began to ask before shaking her head. It was definitely Lily Coulson, there was no doubt in her mind about that.

"She goes by Rose but yes, she is." Skye smiled, closing the door to her office. "I did request you return because of her but there is something else that I've found out since I placed that call."

"We can talk about it in your office." Maria suggested, walking with a familiar ease through the plane.

Once they were inside, Skye took a deep breath. "I know about my parents." She blurted, trying to keep her expression blank. "They aren't good people, no matter how much they try to convince themselves otherwise. They're the reason I've been hunted since I was a child. Theo was collateral damage to them." Skye's voice cracked, her eyes filling with tears. "Everything that has happened to our family is my fault."

"I'd say it's the fault of the people hunting you." Maria disagreed, pulling Skye into a hug. "There is so much terror and hate in this world, and I promise you that none of it is your fault."

"I do have a habit of claiming the blame for everything." Skye laughed slightly, wiping her tears away. "I need to tell Clint, even if you say it isn't my fault. They went after Theo because of me, and that's something I can't keep from him.

"Do what you need to." Maria nodded.

"Do you think Fury would let me split up the team for a while?" Skye suddenly asked. "There are people sorting through the TAHITI files and searching for leads but there are some things that I need to do, and I don't think I want my team with me. It's too personal."

"I'll help the team working on TAHITI." Maria smiled. "You do what you need to do." Maria almost left, before remembering one of her reasons for being there. "A welcome back gift from Fury." Maria handed her a slim square box, a sly grin on her face, before leaving Skye alone in her office.

Skye opened the box to see another SHIELD badge, something she was rather well acquainted with by this point in her career.

'LEVEL 10'. Skye thought with a wide grin. "Took you long enough Pirate." She muttered, preparing herself from the very likely event that she would no longer be working in the field, though she had just been given command of the BUS so she doubted it would be that soon that she would be pulled out.

…

Twenty four hours later saw Skye standing outside of the plane with a rather large group of agents before her, something she never thought would happen. Some of them seemed slightly confused as to why she was in command, though a quick announcement that she was a level 10 agent in charge of the two cases eased that confusion, and replaced it with another of why she was already level 10 and so young.

"I'm sorry to say that I'll be splitting up your teams." Skye announced, quite glad that there wasn't an adolescent murmuring sweeping through the assembled group. "I need Fitzsimmons to keep looking into TAHITI, Carter and Hartley will assist them along with a team Agent Hill is assembling in the hub as we speak. The rest of you will be coming with me on a rather classified assignment. I'll debrief the team accompanying me once we're in the air."

The group seemed to shrug in acceptance, though Fitzsimmons seemed slightly upset with the arrangement, but ever the professionals they accepted her word and departed with Sharon and Izzy to another hanger.

"Let's get her in the air, we have another stop to make." She announced, informing Ward that he would be flying.

"And me?" May asked Skye, noting that the younger girl seemed to have avoided eye contact during her short announcement.

"I need you to keep an eye on Coulson." Skye informed her, pretending not to see May frown at this. "It won't be field work but I need someone I can trust completely to keep an eye on him. He might start drawing those symbols and I don't want you stuck on the BUS when he'll need you with him. Besides, you deserve to spend some time with Rose. You only just got her back."

May shrugged and left Skye to board the plane, who was receiving curious glances from those assembled on the plane. She briefly told Ward their destination and left him with the promise of filling him in after they reached New York. They had a few more people to collect for their mission.

Mack had made small talk with her during the short flight, finding a lot of amusement in calling her baby bird again, something she hadn't heard him call her in four years, though three of those years were because she was undercover. When the short flight was over, Mack was a little surprised to find three of the avengers waiting in the hangar, two of which pulled Skye into a tight embrace.

"It's good to see you again captain." She smiled warmly to the man. Three years may be a long time but it was like they had barely been apart a day as the american hero pulled her into a light hug.

"And you Skye." He returned, seeming rather relieved. "After you disappeared I started to think something bad had happened."

"Let's head on up, we have a lot of work to do." She smiled, leading them to the command centre where Ward stood waiting.

"So, what's so secret that you wouldn't even let Stark know we were leaving?" Clint asked, a proud smile on his face as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the glass wall.

"We're going to hunt down the people who killed our brother." Skye spoke seriously, noting the shock that Natasha didn't bother to mask and the dread on Clint's face. "Agent Ward here has been an informant for me in a secret organisation that appears to want SHIELD gone, among other things. Would you like to share with our company the name of this organisation?" Skye smiled, hoping that Ward would go along with her story.

"They're called Hydra." Ward spoke, slightly afraid of the burning look on Roger's face. "Their goal is slightly different from what it was in the forties, they aren't afraid to look outside of a convenient political war to gain power."

"What are they planning?" Steve demanded, his gaze stony.

"They plan to use Project Insight to force the world into submission." Ward spoke. "They have a computer program that can predict people's likely futures and then target the people they think would oppose hydra and kill them all using the helicarriers new targeting system. They could kill millions in a manner of seconds."

"We have to stop them." Steve determined, leaning forward on the holotable.

"Agreed." Skye nodded. "But we have to be careful, they aren't just a couple dozen people hiding out in some barn. There are thousands of Hydra agents and we have to go about this as quietly as possible."

"Starting with Theo's murderers." Clint nodded, having the rather puzzling ability to read Skye's mind.

"Once we get in, we can start searching for the real threat and the people we're after are a convenient enough threat." Skye smiled.

"I can get you names." Ward shrugged. "If I need to, I can get the name of everyone who's ever considered joining Hydra as well."

"Do what you have to." Skye nodded, giving Ward a knowing look. A strange kinship had fallen upon them after his loaded confession of being unable to kill her. Things had been slightly tense after the argument but Skye was strangely surprised that they had become infinitely closer over the short days since. "You four can go get settled in, I need to talk to Ward. Nat, can you get us in the air, we don't have a destination yet but I don't feel too comfortable on the ground."

They left the command centre, though slightly hesitantly, allowing Skye to lead Ward up to her office.

"I suppose you want to know how I knew all of that." Skye began, not bothering to sit behind her desk.

"You spent three years digging, I'm surprised you don't know more." Ward shrugged, a strange palpable air passing between them, none of them knew what it was, but it was intense.

"When the time comes, I fully expect you to shoot me." Skye spoke, gaining a raised eyebrow from Ward. "Garrett expects you to kill me, so we'll have to give him a good show. Ever faked a death before?"

"Nope." Ward shrugged, the air between them changing slightly.

"It's rather fun." Skye smiled, trying to ignore the odd pull between them.

"I can imagine." Ward smiled back. "Sounds like a great excuse to get some vacation time."

"You can always join me." Skye joked.

"I need you to know why I can't kill you." Ward spoke, his tone turning serious and slightly defensive. "I haven't known you for long but I care about you, more than I probably should." He spoke quietly, his voice a gravelly whisper. The sound was intoxicating.

Skye didn't waste any time to pull Ward into a kiss, allowing to superheat startlingly quickly. He grabbed her legs and lifted her onto her desk, their tongues dancing together. It was an odd feeling for Skye, lust. She'd always acted on feelings first, but 6 feet 2 of pure muscle was very hard to resist, even for someone who had spent a rather long time in a relationship with a woman. She let herself be swallowed up by him, rather glad that he brother hadn't come looking for her yet.


	18. Chapter 18

**AN- To the anonymous reviewer named 'Ew'. I would love to know why you didn't have the balls to review with your account considering you said you were following the story. I suppose you won't read this but hopefully the people who still trust that the direction I'm going in is still MorseCode. Thanks to those of you who didn't unfollow because I wanted to add a little drama for Skye's side of the relationship. Nobody ever complained when I mentioned Hunter so I only thought it fair to touch upon one of Skye's love interests.**

 **I hope you still read and love what I'm doing.**

CHAPTER 18

Skye and Ward returned to a rather comfortable relationship, though it was not exclusive nor romantic. Both agreed that something purely physical would be better during the course of the mission, and they had both found it rather therapeutic to fall into bed with someone you trusted after a particularly hard mission. Nat had immediately noticed and tried to warn Skye that she and Clint had a similar relationship at first. 'It'll fizzle out or it'll blow up into something you aren't prepared for.' She had said, being careful to discuss it while Clint wasn't around. After a short reminder that Skye was in fact a 'big girl' Natasha let it drop, promising never to mention anything to Clint.

Ward on the other hand, didn't have to speak to anyone about the change in relationship, mostly because he didn't have his older siblings on the plane with him, something he was rather glad for. He did however have to report to Garrett and explain why Skye hadn't seen the wrong end of a bullet.

"She's got three avengers hovering around her, I haven't been able to get a shot off yet." Ward explained, trying to sound as bored as he could, which thanks to his training as a specialist wasn't too hard. "It might be easier for a stray bullet to his her back on an upcoming mission. Much less messy."

"She needs to die, Ward." Garrett remind him before Ward ended the call, startled to see a mountain of an avenger narrowing his eyes at him.

"I don't know whether I should skin you alive or just throw you out of the plane." He growled, arms crossed.

"Skye and I are trying to figure out a way to fake her death." Ward shrugged, not too intimidated by the avenger. At least not on the outside.

"The second I find out you're lying, you die." Steve spoke, somehow towering over Ward.

"I'm not. Despite what I said to Garrett I could have easily killed Skye by now." Ward rolled his eyes. "Hydra may want her dead but they really don't care if I live afterward."

Steve regarded him for several moments, trying to understand the look on his face. There was something strange about Ward's expression, though he couldn't quite understand it. It was only when he realised he'd seen the look before that he understood. "You love her." He spoke, his expression softening.

"I do." Ward admitted, dropping his gaze to the floor. "But I know she doesn't love me back. I saw the way she looked at Morse while she was here, there's something very real there. I can just hope that she feels something other than indifference for me."

Steve walked away, keeping to himself the fact that he saw Skye stood frozen within earshot of their conversation. He was rather good at keeping things to himself when he wanted to, especially when one grew up as the scrawny kid in the twenties and thirties.

Skye turned in the other direction, heading for her office. She had hoped that Ward's feelings didn't go that deep and that she wasn't misleading him. The misleading part was false, given that he knew her true feelings but she couldn't justify falling back into bed with him, no matter how much her body wanted to. She couldn't do that to him, not when they were just rebuilding their trust.

"I suppose you heard him talking to Steve too." Clint spoke, walking into the office. "I'm a little upset you haven't brought me into the fake death plan, I should really be insulted."

"I love you Clint, but there are some things that you can't ask a brother to do." Skye frowned. "And one of those is asking them to shoot you."

"I suppose an arrow would be rather obvious that Ward wasn't the one to do it." Clint agreed, nodding his head slightly. "But that's off subject. Do you have feelings for Grant Ward?" Her brother asked, his gaze stony. It was like he thought she was twelve years old again.

"No." Skye answered, a little too easily in her opinion. She should have known that sleeping with Ward would be a bad idea and now alarm bells were ringing in her head. No matter how much she promised herself that she wouldn't give in again, she knew that it was inevitable. She found it very hard to resist someone taller than her. It was a weakness.

"Be careful with him." Clint warned before leaving the office, leaving Skye to being the paperwork she had been putting off. It didn't take very long to do but it was rather boring a pass time, especially when it had to do with splitting up teams. It meant twice the amount of work, which was even less appealing.

…

"I think I know where they are." Ward admitted during one of their briefings. It was personal preference for Skye to have briefings every four hours because it meant everyone was up to date with information, though there were the odd exceptions where the briefings were moved. "I remember Garrett talking about finding a way to fix his cybernetics. He was hunting down people with powers, with the help of a man named Whitehall."

"Is Garrett the one behind centipede?" Skye asked, already knowing the answer. Of course Ward's Hydra handler was the one behind all of the problems they were having, it wouldn't make sense any other way.

"Yes he is." Ward nodded. "He's been working with a company called cybertek but the best they can do is alleviate pain and other symptoms from almost losing half of his abdomen. He blames SHIELD for not saving him so naturally he joined Hydra."

"He's the one that killed my baby brother." Skye growled, barely able to contain her anger. She had worked several missions with Garrett, hell she'd saved the bastard's life more than once. And he was the one that took a kid barely out of elementary school and cut him to pieces. She'd gone looking for the report from when they found his body and it was not pretty. It was horrendous. The only reason they knew it was Theo was after a DNA test. He'd done that to a kid, and most likely a host more people who didn't deserve a death that brutal, or even death at all.

"Skye." Nat spoke, half warning and half comforting.

Skye was shaking with anger. Not only had Garrett killed her brother, but he'd gone after the wrong sibling. Theo didn't have any powers, it was Skye who had the potential for more, and yet he would throw away her life on a whim despite the fact that she was the one that he wanted. "I'll kill that son of a bitch." She seethed, barely able to contain herself from shooting someone.

"I'm not sure that's the way to go." Steve spoke, glancing between Skye, who was beyond angry and Clint, who was desperately sad.

"I am." Skye announced, her gaze still hard. "And I know exactly how to corner him."

…

"I need Garrett with me on this one." Skye argued with Fury, trying desperately to keep her vendetta a secret.

"And I need him tracking down centipede." He rebutted, not knowing the irony in his words.

Skye was sick of going back and forth like that, her anger growing by the second until she finally released it, glad that Fury's office was secured. "That son of a bitch is centipede." She yelled. "He killed Theo and I swear if you don't let me close enough to put a bullet in his brain I'll kill everyone you put in my way." She seethed, rather satisfied with her threat. "Including you if I need to."

Fury went pale, something she thought was impossible for a man with one expression.

"I will rip him apart the same way he did to Theo." Skye continued, desperately needing to vent. "And by the time I'm finished with him nobody will be able to identify his body because that son of a bitch needs to rot in hell."

Fury nodded, regaining his composure. "I'll transfer him to the bus, alone preferably." He conceded. "I don't feel like losing half of SHIELD over this."

"Good." Skye growled, storming from the office. She made a beeline for the hangar the bus was in. She needed to let off some steam and sparring with a super soldier seemed like a pretty good way to do it.

She managed to convince Steve to spar with her rather easily, a single look breaking down the Captain. She managed to hold up against him, going blow for blow with him. He'd started off going easy on her but quickly learnt that when Skye was angry she was strong enough to rival even him. Each blow was delivered with a heart wrenching scream, ripping Skye's throat raw. She was in no position to lead a team in her state, though she wasn't too upset with that. Garrett would be at the hangar in two hours and she really wanted to be calm enough to relish killing him. It would probably cause a stir if one of the engineers saw her shoot Garrett but she didn't particularly care. If he wasn't dead by the end of the day then it would be Skye who would be having a funeral.

"Skye." A worried voice spoke from the ramp of the plane, rushed footsteps moving toward her. She couldn't recognise the voice, she was far too angry for that. A hand touched her shoulder and she lashed out, flipping the person onto their back.

"Bobbi?" She breathed, finally seeing the face of the person underneath her. "I'm so sorry." Skye breathed, backing away from Bobbi until she was pressed up against the wall.

"I have never seen you this angry." Bobbi commented, taking a hesitant step toward Skye. "What happened since Fury called me back?"

"We're going after Theo's killer." Skye spoke, the anger building up inside her again. It wasn't as urgent this time but smouldering, lingering. The type that would make it easier to put a bullet in Garrett's head the second she saw him.

Bobbi didn't say anything but simply pulled Skye into her arms, hoping that some of the hurt that Skye was obviously feeling would melt away.

"Sorry I'm early." A voice announced from the hangar, a voice that Skye had been expecting.

"Agent Garrett, I'm glad we managed to get you onboard." Skye spoke, feigning a smile. "We've managed to get a lead on Centipede and I thought it only fair that you join us for the mission, after all you're very involved in it."

"I'm happy to lend a hand." He smiled, a rather loaded smile. How he managed to keep himself above suspicion for so long was a mystery to Skye, that smile oozed mistrust.

Skye simply nodded and left the cargo bay, heading straight for the armoury. She'd made a promise to herself that she would put a bullet in the smarmy bastard's brain and that was exactly what she was going to do.

"Agent Barton." He spoke from behind her, apparently not wanting to waste any time before he killed her.

"Garrett." Skye turned smiling, a gun aimed at his head. She was simply glad that she was able to get one before he cornered her.

"I suppose Grant told you everything." He shrugged, pulling out his own weapon.

"He didn't need to." Skye smiled back. "I found out about Hydra long before he came to me." She cocked the weapon, placing her finger on the trigger.

"And I suppose that you aren't going to let me live." Garrett smiled back, doing the same.

"I just have one question." She spoke, taking a few steps closer to him. "Why Theo?"

Garrett chuckled, lowering his weapon. "Do you really believe I did that?" He attempted, though he was far too smug for it to have worked.

"Why don't you try sniveling and begging next?" Skye taunted. "Answer the question."

"Because I needed him." He smiled back, pulling a phone from his pocket. "Though I don't suppose you'd be interested in why."

"Not particularly." Skye spoke, her expression hard. She pulled the trigger and watched as he fell to the ground, wishing that she had a real gun in her hand, though the ICER would have to do. She could shoot him until the end of the universe with the thing.

…

"You didn't kill him." Clint noted when Skye returned from hauling Garrett to the cage.

"I should have." She growled, narrowing her eyes at the security feed. "Get us to the centipede lab, I'll have Rogers interrogate him." She fled the control room, heading for her office. Once the door was shut she let herself break down, tears falling down her cheeks in floods. She was screaming again, though she doubted her throat would be able to take any more. The boy she'd helped Clint raise was dead and she couldn't bring herself to kill his murderer. It was like he'd died all over again, like she'd failed all over again.

…

"He hasn't said anything." Steve reported during one of their many scheduled briefings. "But I don't think he will, not while he knows there's a camera on him."

"That's fine." Skye shrugged, looking over the schematics of the lab that Ward had provided. "The second we're done here I'm putting a bullet between his eyes."

"You can't do that." Natasha deadpanned. "Fury gave me strict instructions to bar your access to the cage until we get a confession out of him."

"Then I'll get one." Skye growled, not raising her eyes from the image. "I'll go in with Romanoff through the window here while Rogers takes the front gate. Ward will remain here and coerce Garrett into giving us what we need and Clint will monitor from here."

"I should be going in." Clint tried to argue, though his stifled yawn said otherwise.

"You haven't slept. You're no good to us if you pass out in the middle of this mission." Skye disagreed.

"You haven't given me any orders yet." Bobbi spoke up, crossing her arms.

Skye looked up at her, apparently having forgotten that she arrived an hour earlier.

"I'll go in with Rogers and you can team up with Natasha." Skye spoke, not leaving room for her to argue. "We'll head out in twenty. Gear up."


End file.
